


Ex-Horde

by Arc of Light (RainbowGarbage), RainbowGarbage



Series: The Horde Crew [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Communication, Communication Failure, Crushes, M/M, Nonverbal Communication, Slow Burn, fuck sentence structure, pre Kyle/Rogelio (She-Ra)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24265435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowGarbage/pseuds/Arc%20of%20Light, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowGarbage/pseuds/RainbowGarbage
Summary: After watching Scorpia leave for the rebellion, Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie decide to follow suit. But maybe they shouldn't have left when they did, because suddenly the night sky is full of millions of stars and an alien invasion threatens the entire planet.A full on season 5 re-write with a major focus on our Horde trio joining the good guys!
Relationships: Kyle & Lonnie & Rogelio (She-ra)
Series: The Horde Crew [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910284
Comments: 20
Kudos: 126
Collections: Shera





	1. Childhood

**Author's Note:**

> So it begins. With season 5 out and almost no new (canon) Kyle/Rogelio content, I've decided to put matters into my own hands.
> 
> As it says in the summary, it’s a season 5 re-write, with new twists and turns, and hopefully a lot of room for fluff.
> 
> Also I’m totally going to be editing and re-editing the tags and notes for this story, so sorry in advanced 😅.
> 
> Edit: So this since this story is a lot longer than I thought, I will be spliting it up into 3 parts. This fic is part 1, and parts 2 and 3 will be posted in this series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This first chapter has no (major) spoilers for season 5, but you should be caught up until season 4. (Who am i kidding you're probably all caught up)

Kyle sneaked around the corridors of the Fright Zone, hoping that no grown-up would catch him. He was supposed to be in the dorms right now, with all the other kids. But he had a problem he needed to fix, and for that he needed help. 

He was trying to sneak into one of the big kid’s rooms: Scorpia’s, who was already in her 10th year of schooling, while he was only in his 6th year. Scorpia was much closer than him to start working for the Horde, and that meant she probably knew a lot more than he did.

After turning a corner, Kyle came across a big green door with a scorpion symbol on it, the symbol being high above his head. He walked towards the doorknob, which was the same height as his forehead, and turned it. He heard a click, and he silently thanked it wasn't locked. With a gentle push, the door opened and he slipped inside.

He found himself in a very clean looking room, with a big bed in the middle and a nightstand right beside it. The door was across from the bed; he was staring at the end of it. Scorpia was sitting up on her bed, with some kind of skinny brush in one claw and a bottle of black liquid on her nightstand. She looked like she was about to put that black stuff on her claws before Kyle appeared in the doorway.

“O- Oh! Hey um, you don’t belong here,” she stammered, quickly shoving the black liquid and brush in a drawer. “I- I mean it's not that you don't belong here, it's just that I wasn’t expecting you. Augh-” she started messing with the pillows on her bed, “Sorry, I would have tidied up the place if I had known you were coming I-”

She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “Hello, do you need anything?” she smiled at Kyle, who was still standing awkwardly by the door. Kyle guessed that being older didn’t mean being socially competent.

“Um, I have a problem,” Kyle said, with his little 12 year old voice.

“Well why don’t you tell one of your instructors then?” Scorpia asked.

“Because it’s a problem with me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” began Kyle, walking up to the side of the bed, as there was nothing wrong with coming into a stranger’s room unannounced, “there’s this guy in my class. He’s a year older than me.” He sat on the bed next to Scorpia, who was giving the kid a confused look. “And he’s amazing! He’s super strong and smart and funny, but I don’t think he likes hanging out with me that much. But I want to hang out with him more! How-”

“Ok back up,” said Scorpia. “Do you have a crush on him!?”

Kyle’s eyes widened, “uuuuhhhhh…”

“You know what, nevermind,” said Scorpia, “tell me more about him!”

The rest of Kyle's time there was spent rambling about the big lizard in his squad, and Scorpia assuring Kyle that there was no problem with him at all.

###

“Rogelio!”

With a grunt, the green lizard, who had been stalking the hallway, jumped at the sound of his name.

“What are you  _ doing _ ?” questioned Lonnie. None of them were supposed to be out of their rooms at this late hour; if someone saw Rogelio staring out into the hallway, they would get furious, and might revoke his eating privileges for tomorrow as punishment.

Rogelio turned to Lonnie and let out a few growls, pointing down the hallway towards the left. Kyle had snuck out a while ago, Rogelio needed to watch for him.

Of course, Lonnie didn’t understand any of that, as revealed by her confused, scrunched up face. So Rogelio silently turned back around and poked his head back out the doorway, continuing to act as lookout. After a pause, he heard footsteps from behind, and Lonnie poked out into the hallway as well. Rogelio smiled, and suddenly got lost in thought, thinking about how much smaller he used to be. Him and Lonnie were about the same size now, but when he was younger he could be picked up like any other lizard. He wondered how long this growth spurt would last- 

“ _ What are you doing? _ ” said a cold, gravely voice.

Rogelio’s and Lonnie’s heads whipped around, and there stood Shadow Weaver directly behind them. They both backed into the room, and she stood at the entrance, hands together and poised upwards. The red, animated cloak vibrated angrily as her eyes stayed cold and calculating. 

“N- nothing Shadow Weaver,” said Lonnie, and she quickly backed away out of sight to lay on the bed assigned to her.

Rogelio, however, didn’t move back just yet. He noticed a gap between Shadow Weaver and the doorway, just barely enough space for his head. On impulse, he quickly shuffled towards the opening, planning to pop his head out, see if Kyle was nearby, and pop back in.

But his snout barley made it out of the room before Shadow Weaver pushed him back violently. He stumbled back a few steps but managed to stay on his feet. When he looked up Shadow Weaver was towering over him, face dark, and eyes narrow. She loomed overhead, and shadows started impatiently dancing from under her cloak. Panic bloomed in Rogelio’s chest, and he tried to explain himself. He pointed past Shadow Weaver, into the hall, and let out grunts explaining that he was only looking for another cadet.

But Shadow Weaver was having none of it. She struck Rogelio’s extended arm, and a loud slapping sound rang through the room on contact. Pain radiated through his arm, and he pulled back his arm to roar in shock. His roar was interrupted, however, by another harsh slap at the top of his snout. Rogelio reeled back, whining loudly, and hurriedly put both hands on his snout, the damaged hand under the other. The dark magician loomed over him.

“Listen here child,” she began, as shadows poured from under her robe and onto the floor. “None of you children are to argue with me, least of all you,  _ brute. _ Not only am I your superior, but  _ you  _ are a lizardman. None can understand any of your  _ excuses _ . All that comes out of your mouth are barbaric grunts, so save it. The only reason you are in the Horde is to follow orders, and to do so quietly. Even a  _ simpleton  _ like you could understand.”

The shadows were surrounding Rogelio’s feet now, almost tickling him with promises of pain. Dread and fear creeped up his chest, but he was trying his hardest to stay neutral, and to not let tears fall from his eyes.

Finally, after a long moment of tense glaring, Shadow Weaver stood up and took a deep breath. “Do  _ not _ let me catch you out of this room at night again,” she spat out. The shadows continued to shift on the floor and behind her figure. Her bright, white eyes narrowed at him. “Go to bed,” she said.

At first, Rogelio didn’t even move. His body just stood deathly still, worried that moving might make Shadow Weaver suddenly assault him. Eventually, his body caught up to his mind, and he scrambled away from the glaring eyes. Avoiding the sea of dark magic around him, Rogelio threw himself onto the bed, and curled his tail around his body as he lay on the hard, uncomfortable mattress, facing away from the entrance. He heard Shadow Weaver wordlessly leave the room, and the lights turned off. He calmed down, but only slightly.

Rogelio still sat there, encircling his body to protect himself. He didn’t know how long he stayed there; most of the kids had drifted off to sleep while his body quietly jerked with each silent sob. 

Eventually, a dark figure walked before the bed. Rogelio’s muscles tensed and he forced himself to stop the pathetic crying, then he looked up to see who it was. The figure was short, and in the dim light the fair skin and fluffy hair were barely noticeable, but they were there. It was Kyle, coming to visit him in the middle of the night.

“T- thanks for not telling Shadow Weaver about me,” said Kyle. Rogelio looked up at Kyle with big eyes; the fact that Rogelio managed to do something right tonight made his heart feel a little lighter. He thought about admitting to Kyle that he  _ did _ try to tell Shadow Weaver about Kyle’s disappearance, but decided against it. What Kyle doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him (besides, Kyle wouldn’t understand him anyway).

Kyle stood there, probably expecting an answer, and Rogelio gave him a simple thumbs up. Kyle let out a laugh that sounded like gold, and Rogelio found himself smiling. A comfortable silence followed, then Kyle quietly started sneaking towards the ladder that led to his bed. But before he made it, another figure appeared at the foot of Rogelio’s bed. It was Lonnie, standing there with a blanket she pulled from the bed and her pillow.

She rubbed her hands together nervously and gently asked, “sleepover?”

Rogelio smiled in the dark, then hurriedly wiped the excess tears and snot from his face. After composing himself, he rolled his legs up, leaving the foot of his bed for Kyle and Lonnie.

“I was uh, looking for Kyle,” muttered Rogelio in his deep, monstrous voice. “I think I saw him sneak out earlier and I don’t want him to get in trouble, any idea where he went?”

All Lonnie did was mumble something and turn around. Rogelio knew his friends didn’t like to listen to him but now was not the time.

“Stop joking around Lonnie! Kyle might get in trouble. And since I am in 7th year and you guys are still in 6th year, I have to make sure that you guys are alri-”

Lonnie suddenly snapped around, “Ah I can’t understand you!” she yelled. “All you do is make random, stupid grumbling noises but you still think we understand you!”

Rogelio was taken aback. Growing up, his friends learned to talk before he did, but all he could ever manage was beast-like grumbling and noises. He could never get the grunts shaped into specific sounds and words. But the teachers at the horde never taught them anything about language, so through his little kid logic, he thought that this is what it was like for everyone. That everyone just made mouth noises and other people could understand them, and that’s how talking worked. That’s what he thought for the past few years at least.

“But, isn’t that how talking works?” asked Rogelio.

“I don’t know what you’re saying.” said Lonnie.

Rogelio was now thoroughly embarrassed. He looked back on all the times he tried to talk to his friends, and all the misunderstandings where he thought they were just teasing him. He had been so excited when he “learned” how to talk - when he came to the revelation that he could just make noises and they would still understand him. He had so much to say. But now he learned that they never understood a word he said.

All he could manage was a simple “oh.” 

Lonnie looked a little nervous about the whole situation, and she felt more than a little guilty. She was about to say something but she was interrupted by a familiar shrill voice.

“Hey guys!” exclaimed Kyle. “What’s up?” He asked, looking directly at Rogelio. 

Rogelio said nothing and stalked off to his bed.

###

_ 5 years later _

A nice breeze flew softly across the boundaries of the Fright Zone, but it felt anything but calming. Scorpia was leaving the horde to join the rebellion; she said she was joining the other princesses to find out what a “good friend” was. Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie would have laughed at her if it wasn’t for what Catra was doing to all of them. In the end they let her leave. How could they not? After how Catra had acted.

The three were rooted in place watching Scorpia fade into the distance, the earlier conversation still fresh in their mind. Tension had been extremely high in the horde lately: Catra had some big mysterious plan that was supposed to be foolproof, but didn’t disclose any of the details to anyone. On top of that, she had been running everyone ragged, explaining how important everyone’s job was to the future of the Horde, but refused to acknowledge any concerns. Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie were supposed to be friends, but not only was Catra being distant, she was treating them like worthless soldiers. 

The three were standing just outside the Fright Zone, leaning against the outside wall that surrounded the perimeter. They were out on patrol, and it was one of the only times that any horde soldiers got to see the stretch of plains between the wall and the Whispering Woods.

Lonnie, who was leaning against the wall with one leg up, was the first to make any noise, but it was nothing more than a sigh. Kyle and Rogelio, who were at her left and right respectively, looked at her and then looked at eachother.

“This sucks.” said Lonnie. 

“Yeah.” said Kyle, his voice quieter than usual. “We’ll probably have to fight her too now.” Rogelio winced. When the three found out Adora left to join, no,  _ lead _ the rebellion, it had been tough to accept. Going through the same thing with Scorpia might be too much for any of them to handle.

“Yeah...” said Lonnie, looking at the ground. “But with the Horde treating us like crap and with Catra acting like a tyrant, it's honestly no wonder Scorpia left.”

Kyle looked shocked. “Wait, don’t say that, Catra is our friend! She is just having a rough time-”

“She left us to DIE, Kyle!” Her head snapped towards him. Silence filled the air; the memory of what happened in the acid storm was still fresh in their minds. They all had to withstand the constant burning of the acid flakes, and Kyle definitely got the worst of it. They had to sacrifice a piece of tech to use as an umbrella just to survive.

When they tried to explain everything to Catra, she ignored them, and simply shouted furiously, saying it was their own fault for not being prepared, and for losing the integral piece of tech. They were immediately sent on their next mission with no time to rest and covered in burn marks.

The thoughtful quiet was broken by a small rumble from Rogelio. Kyle and Lonnie turned to face him. He nodded his head towards the whispering woods, and his eyes darted towards the trees. Lonnie paused to look at Rogelio, but Kyle didn’t skip a beat.

“The woods?” asked Kyle. Rogelio pointed at the three of them before pointing at the woods again. “Us go to the woods- wait, run away?!” Rogelio nodded, and Kyle looked at him incredulously. “I- bu- but what about Catra! We can't just leave her, she's our friend!”

“Kyle,” started Lonnie, “I don’t know what you think a friend is, but she is not treating us like a very good one.” Kyle stared at the ground sheepishly. 

“But this is our home,” he said. “Think of the memories we had here, think of the things we went through together. How Rogelio would always have to save you, Lonnie, when you picked a fight with Catra, the times where we stole food for each other, and the sleep overs we had with Catra and Adora.”

Lonnie frowned. “Yeah those  _ were  _ fun, But it’s different now. Catra used to tease us and we knew she never meant any of it. But now… it feels genuine; she insults us constantly, berates us for making mistakes, and if we act like anything but ideal soldiers we get  _ punished. Actually  _ punished!” Lonnie sighed and lowered her voice back from a yell. “She doesn’t care about us anymore, Kyle. I’m with Rogelio, we should leave.”

Kyle said nothing, looking away from them. His hands curled in indecision and he shuffled his feet once. Lonnie sighed. “Kyle, do you  _ really  _ want to stay?”

There was a very long pause, as Rogelio and Lonnie awaited his answer. Without making eye contact, he said, “...Yes?”   
Lonnie retorted, “Bull.”

“But I don’t want to be part of Catra’s problem!” exclaimed Kyle. “Scorpia just left Catra and now she’s going to feel terrible. We shouldn’t add onto that now.”

“Kyle, don’t be a baby. She should have thought about that before driving Scorpia away, and before treating us like garbage.”

Kyle felt a little overwhelmed, so he said nothing. He knew Lonnie was right, but it was hard to admit, and even harder for him to act against Catra. “But it’s going to be so hard to leave.  _ So hard _ to just go behind Catra’s back like that.”

The statement was left in the air, no one responding. After a moment, Rogelio stepped past Lonnie and in front of Kyle. He put a hand on Kyle’s shoulder, causing him to look up nervously and make eye contact. With Rogelio’s free hand, he beat his own chest twice, and let out a small snort through his nose. Then he put his other hand on Lonnie’s shoulder, and pulled everyone in. It was a moment of comforting closeness, and they all glanced at one another.

Rogelio and Lonnie looked at Kyle expectantly, awaiting his approval. It made him blush, but for some reason it brought it comfort too. Yeah, Kyle had been through a lot with Catra, but he had been through a lot with them as well.

Kyle sighed. “Fine,” he whispered. The other two smiled and he found himself smiling too. Rogelio let them go, and Lonnie looked confidently at the other two, a plan on the tip of her tongue. 

“Wait,” said Kyle suddenly. “If this goes wrong… don’t blame me.” 

Lonnie lifted an eyebrow.

Kyle's face drooped. “Please?”

Lonnie let a smile grow on her face, rolling her eyes at how easy it was to tease Kyle. “If you insist,” she said.

###

That night the Fright Zone outer perimeter was unguarded, as three ex-horde soldiers fled across the plains and into the whispering woods. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And scene!
> 
> I'm trying to frame Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie's relationship for the whole work to be less mean (like it was in season 1) and more on the side of fun teasing (like in the season 4 episode where they were stuck in the woods).


	2. Trouble in Thaymor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio's plans to go to the Crimson waste has been delayed by the stars coming back. Now they need to get to a safe place as soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll try to stick to a weekly upload schedule, but this was a very long chapter for me, so it may be an even faster upload cycle! (no promises though)

_ *Scorpia led Glimmer through the winding halls of the fright zone. Scorpia had said it was a slow day, and Glimmer could see that she was right: there were no signs of any patrolling guards anywhere. Scorpia stood in front of a door and looked back at Glimmer and said, “This is it.” Scorpia tapped the panel on the side of the door and it opened, revealing the black garnet.* _

They did it, they actually did it. Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie escaped the fright zone. No more stupid bars, no more trainig with those stupid bots. No more being ordered around, none of it!

The three of them were walking along the grassy plains of Etheria, attempting to navigate around the Whispering Woods instead of going through it. For the trip, Kyle brought along a grey, tattered travel pack, which contained two Cup-and-Ball toys Rogelio made, and some stolen protein bars. Kyle had wanted Rogelio to carry more things, but they needed to travel light.

Lonnie, ever practical, only brought along a stolen taser weapon from the horde, in case there was any danger before they reached the Crimson Waste - probably the best place to house traitors like them.

Above was the black, empty night sky, watching them as they tried to make their way to the Crimson Waste.

_ *Scorpia gently raised her claw to the black garnet. With encouragement from Glimmer, she touched her claw to the gem. The garnet started glowing at the point of contact, and it started looking a lot more red than black. Scorpia felt power surge through her as a connection formed between her and the other princesses. After ages, all the princesses of Etheria were connected to their runestones. Ancient, slumbering tech deep within the planet started coming back to life.* _

Rogelio, who had been dragging his feet up to this point, fell to his knees and roared tiredley in complaint.

Lonnie stopped and turned around to look at the cold-blooded lizard “Sorry Rogelio,” she said, “we don’t have time to rest. I want to make it to Thaymor before too long.”

“Why are we going to Thaymor again?” asked Kyle.

“We basically need supplies and a nice place to sleep,” explained Lonnie. “And if no one wants to help us… “ she shrugged, “we just steal the supplies.” 

Rogelio shuddered at carrying more items, and whined angrily at Lonnie. She ignored him and turned around to continue.

Before Kyle could move to help Rogelio up, he spotted colorful beams of light shooting up in the distance, and gasped.

_ “Mara’s interference caused a significant delay. But no longer. With the planet balanced, portal capability is restored. Initiate planetary move.  _ Out  _ of the dimension of Despondos.” _

_ Lighthope looked on coldly at the screaming She-Ra as the portal procedure began* _

Suddenly, a bright, powerful wave of magenta light creeped up from the horizon and consumed the night sky. Shadows stretched uncomfortably long as light dimly gleamed everywhere, like an eclipse. The light was accompanied by a powerful noise that could be heard for miles, and the ground shook. 

Kyle stopped to stare at the light show above them, getting extremely nervous. The sound was getting overwhelming, and he looked away to crouch down on the ground, hands over his ears, eyes shut tight.

But just as soon as it started it all stopped. 

It was exceedingly quiet now, which left a ringing in his ears, and a lot darker compared to before. Kyle willed himself to calm down and take in the silence of the night. What just happened? Did he imagine it? It was so real and intense. He dared to look up again to see what changed. He was expecting something terrible beyond imagining but he was surprisedl.

Lights _. Millions _ of them. He actually gasped and put his hand to his mouth. It almost looked like static on a screen, except it was still and peaceful. Each light shone slightly differently, some were a little brighter and a different tint than the others. And they were arranged so beautifully, so evenly spaced apart, that the sky felt like it was made for admiring. He much preferred this view to the loud pink light.

“ _ Guys _ ,” Kyle exclaimed in awe, “I- I think these are stars!” He turned to his friends. Lonnie was staring at the lights too, but her body was tense, and one hand was on her taser strapped to her hip. Rogelio was still on his knees and looking vaguely up, head tilted in confusion.

“... Guys it's ok, they’re just stars. They aren’t even doing anything.” Lonnie glanced at Kyle and looked back up at the stars, testing his theory. She closed her eyes and took a few deep calming breaths. 

“Yeah... You’re right.” Lonnie looked at Rogelio. “They are just stars, no need to freak out.”

Rogelio scanned his surroundings, a little paranoid, then looked at Lonnie, then at Kyle, then shrugged. Kyle walked up to the lizard and stuck both his hands out, wanting to help him to his feet. Rogelio gingerly placed his hand on both of Kyle’s and let Kyle pull him up with a grunt. 

Now fully collected, Lonnie looked at the other two seriously. “Guys we need to make it to Thaymor soon, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Kyle gripped Rogelio’s hand a little tighter. The lizard gripped back, and Kyle exhaled calmly. “Ok, lets go,” he said.

With that, the three sprinted towards Thaymor under the watchful eye of the stars.

###

It turns out villages get very defensive and paranoid after the world shakes and stars suddenly appear in the sky. They, understandably, get a little hostile against any group of people that may come into their village in the middle of the night. So when three intimidating used-to-be-horde soldiers, one of them being a huge lizard, come into their village in the middle of the night, the people of the village get defensive.

Thaymor, it appears, has ways of dealing with intruders. Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie were greeted by a very nice citizen, showing them around the town. The citizen, however, led them through a tight spot between houses, where the three were promptly ambushed and knocked out by other villagers.

###

Darkness threatened to swallow Kyle whole. His mind felt slow and groggy, and he felt a pressure coming from every inch of his body. Panic started growing when his groan came out muffled and his mouth started to sting. There was tape covering his mouth. Kyle’s mind became alert with shock and his eyes shot open. 

The first thing Kyle noticed when opening his eyes was the rope tied around his body at his waist. Rogelio and Lonnie were next to him, tied together by the same rope. They were sitting back to back to back around a pole running from the floor to the ceiling in a corner in a room. His wrists were tied behind his back behind the pole, and he felt his companion’s hands were tied in the same way.

Rogelio and Lonnie were both unconscious. Lonnie had tape covering her mouth but poor Rogelio had tape encircling his snout, like some makeshift muzzle. Both of them seemed relatively unharmed, which gave Kyle a bit of relief.

Kyle took a look around the room, thankful that he was facing the center rather than the wall like the other two were. It was a very big room, with narrow windows near the roof, and morning light was streaming in from outside. The spiral root and leaf designs in the architecture made it very clear they were still in Thaymor. Two other poles ran from the roof to the ceiling, and one of the walls was a big mirror. In the opposite corner of the room was Kyle’s bag. It didn’t look like a prison; it looked like the villagers had to improvise.

Despite the unthreatening room, Kyle wasn’t about to just sit there. He started to struggle against the ropes, but the more he struggled the more the rope constricted him. Twisting and pushing and kicking his feet did nothing to make things any easier. 

The muffled groaning at his sides suddenly caught his attention. On his left and right, Lonnie and Rogelio were coming to. Kyle saw them going through the same motions he did: groggily waking up to find themselves unable to speak, snapping their heads down to find the rope keeping them in place, and anxiously looking around to see where they were. 

Both of them looked at Kyle, a question in their eyes. Kyle shrugged sadly, and a groan escaped the tape on Lonnie’s mouth, and the two began to struggle against the tape.

Being tied together between two struggling people was not a fun experience. The rope around Kyle’s stomach sporadically loosened and tightened, making it very hard to breath. After a few minutes, Kyle was the one to give up first, deciding to try and give the other two more room for their movements. Lonnie was really giving it her all, but the ropes ignored her struggling; they didn’t loosen up at all.

Rogelio, on the other hand, was doing something weird. He had long since stopped violently struggling like Lonnie. Now he was… well Kyle didn’t know. By the way his eyes looked and his snout wrinkled up, Rogelio was obviously concentrating on something, but the only movement Kyle saw was the subtle movement of Rogelio’s shoulders.

Rogelio caught Kyle staring at him, and after thinking for a bit, Rogelio seemed to make up his mind about something. He over exaggeratedly rolled his shoulders, and his eyes darted from the pole back to Kyle, trying to communicate his idea.

Kyle simply gave Rogelio a confused look. Rogelio’s eyes darted back to the pole and back to Kyle, but this time Kyle felt Rogelio very deliberately tapping the back of his hand. Rogelio was trying to get Kyle to do something with his hands, but he didn’t know what. He was about to give Rogelio a questioning look again when something else caught their attention.

There was an explosion outside the building; everything shook with the sound of the destructive force, and the light through the windows flashed red. The three froze at the sound. All they could hear afterwards was an eerie silence, but if they listened closely, they could hear faint screaming coming from the outskirts of Thaymor.

They all looked at each other warily. The people of Thaymor were dealing with something big and dangerous, and the villagers probably wouldn't think of helping the three tied-up helpless runaways. Lonnie started uselessly struggling against the ropes again, except with more vigor.

Rogelio looked at Kyle again, and tapped the back of his arm with his sharp claws, then he rolled his shoulders again, as if trying to get his arms out.Kyle wiggled his own hands and wrists, trying to follow Rogelio, but they were restricted by the ropes. Rogelio rasped his claw against Kyle’s arm again, lightly scratching him. 

Kyle’s eyes lit up in realization: Rogelio’s claws could probably cut through the rope. He probably couldn’t reach the ropes on his own wrists, but maybe if Kyle positioned himself right…

Kyle awkwardly shuffled himself forward as much as he could, moved his arms as high as his shoulders allowed - since Rogelio’s hands were tied above Kyle’s - and moved closer to Lonnie so Rogelio could cut at the rope better. He felt the vibration of the rope as Rogelio’s talon got to work.

It took Rogelio a tense few minutes to cut the rope. During that time, Kyle tried listening to what was going on outside, wary of more explosions. After long, Kyle could hear the distant sounds of battle cries and gunshots, but they were becoming louder and closer. These guns sounded more powerful and dangerous than the tasers in the horde, and the sounds became so loud and close that he was sure his friends could hear it too now.

Rogelio got more desperate with his cutting, sometimes scratching Kyle in the process. He didn’t care though, he was just as desperate to get out as Rogelio was. 

Eventually, with deep scratch from Rogelio’s claw, Kyle felt his ropes on his wrists snap apart. The boys gave each other a shocked and triumphant look. Kyle’s arms were no use to him behind his back, so he tried to wiggle them up in front of him. After a lot of shaking and an elbow to Rogelio’s side, Kyle finally got his right arm free.

Kyle immediately ripped the tape off his mouth, followed by a scream of pain. Taking tape off quickly like that was not a pleasant experience. 

“Guys,” Kyle gasped, “You hear those sounds too right?”

The sound of the fighting and massacre was extremely close now, whatever force was out there was definitely inside the village at this point. It could take almost no time at all now to have the fighting cause damage to the building. Kyle’s anxiety was getting higher and higher, could they really lose their lives like this?

“What should I do?” Kyle asked the others. Rogelio’s eyes darted towards the rope that tied the three of them together, and Kyle nodded. After freeing his left hand, Kyle attempted to get the rope off of them. The knot that binded the rope wasn’t near him, so he had to resort to pulling and pushing the rope over their bodies. The rope didn’t get any looser though. 

Lonnie interrupted Kyle’s useless struggling with a swift kick to the shins. Kyle looked offended. “Ow! What was that for?” He questioned, turning his attention towards the exhausted Lonnie.

Lonnie over exaggeratedly moved her chin up and down, and loud muffles could be heard from behind the tape on her mouth. Getting the idea, Kyle reached over with his right hand and pulled the tape off her mouth. With a cry of pain, she was free to speak.

“I have an idea,” she gasped tiredly, wasting no time coming up with a plan. “Let’s all stand up at the same time by pushing up with our legs.”Kyle and Rogelio nodded. They all lifted their knees up to get ready. 

Lonnie counted them off, “On three! One. Two. Three!”

With a lot of grunting, and using the pole and the other two’s backs as support, Kyle slowly started making his way up the pole. Lonnie had to slow down a little bit to match Kyle and Rogelio’s pace, but they all eventually managed to stand all the way up, rope still around their bodies. But the rope’s grip on their bodies slackened: standing up gave them a bit more space. Kyle noticed the slack, and had an idea.

With no explanation, Kyle suddenly started wiggling violently, trying to crouch down. The other two didn’t know what he was doing, but Rogelio stayed calm and let the rope catch on his hips, allowing Kyle to get lower and lower.

Lonnie, however, wasn’t as much help. She was about to shout at Kyle but he suddenly popped out under the ropes and onto the floor before she could say anything.

Kyle looked ecstatic. “I’m out!” he shouted triumphantly as he jumped in the air. Rogelio growled happily through his tape.

The fighting from outside seemed to have quieted down a little, and Kyle thought the worst was over. The silence, however, made Lonnie even more warry.

“Rogelio,” said Lonnie, “let's get out of these ropes.” With Kyle was gone, the rope was very slack, and after some struggling, the rope fell to Rogelio and Lonnie’s feet. The only thing keeping them in the room was their wrists tied to the pole. 

Kyle said, “Aright, now Rogelio, cut Lonnie’s wrists free, and we’re almost out of here!” 

Suddenly, there was a loud banging at the door, and all three of them stopped. Rogelio and Lonnie were already facing the door, but Kyle had to slowly turn around to face the noise.

Tension filled the air as the three waited for something to happen….

With a bang, the door flew open quickly, quickly pivoting on its hinge and hitting the wall.

In the doorframe was a bot, but none like they had seen before. It stood on two legs like an intelligent creature, but its head went up into a point, and it had a single diamond shaped eye. Its left hand was a blade, while its right was a gun. The whole thing was white with green accents. With a start, they all realized at the same time that this was the thing that was invading Thaymor.

All three of them stood extremely still, as if that would make the threatening figure go away. Rogelio curled his fingers and quietly attempted to cut Lonnie’s rope.

The bot’s eyes flashed and faced Kyle. Without warning it charged, intending to slash Kyle with its sword arm. Kyle backed away quickly - almost falling- and ran behind Rogelio and Lonnie. The bot slashed at nothing, and glared. Even without a real eye, the look sent shivers down Kyle’s spine

The bot pointed the gun hand at the three of them. The green accents on its arm started glowing as it made a high pitched noise.

The two that were still tied up cowered. “Kyle! Don’t lead it here!,” yelled Lonnie, fear creeping in her voice.

The noise increased in pitch.

“I- I know,” said Kyle. “Where’s the tazer?”

“In my belt,” she said, “and hurry up!”

The barrel started glowing white.   
Kyle snatched the weapon from Lonnie and ran to the bot, staying low to the ground. The bot tried to reposition and aim the gun at Kyle, but it was too late. Grimacing, Kyle stood up, lifted the bot’s gun to the roof with one hand, and tased the bot in the chest with the other. 

BANG! The gun fired, and an enormous hole appeared in the ceiling, and dust and debris started falling. Whimpering fearfully, Kyle backed away to a place where the ceiling wasn't collapsing. A cloud of dirt, dust, and roof fell from above, hiding the bot from view. 

Kyle stood outside of the dust cloud, just in front of the mirror wall, panting more out of fear than exhaustion, and hoping he had already done enough damage with the taser. He heard a high pitched sound, like the one when the bot was charging his gun, but this one felt… faster. He realized what was coming.

With a scream, Kyle fell to the floor to dodge the incoming laser shot. A green ball of light shot from the dust cloud above his head. It missed, and actually bounced off the mirror behind him, like regular light. It flew past his friends and hit the wall behind them. They both looked fearfully at Kyle but didn’t say anything. 

Kyle numbly took note of the bouncing light, and stood up and stared at the dust cloud. He shuffled to another spot in front of the mirror and fearfully waited for the next shot, gripping the taser in both hands so hard his knuckles were becoming white.

But there was no charge-up noise coming from the dust, like Kyle expected. Instead, the dust cloud rippled and the bot appeared in front of it, charging full speed at Kyle. He didn’t even have time to scream when the bot shoved him with the flat side of its gun hand. 

Kyle dropped his weapon as he was violently pushed back. He hit the mirror wall with a harsh thud, and cracks on the mirror appeared at the point of impact. Kyle gasped breathlessly as pain threaded through his head. 

The bot raised its blade hand, preparing to strike, and Kyle struggled against the bot. It’s hand was too strong, however, and all he ended up doing was flail uselessly. Kyle realized he couldn't do anything, and he closed his eyes and raised his hands above his head, whimpering, thinking it was over. 

But behind the bot, the ropes on Lonnie’s wrists snapped apart with one final swipe from Rogelio. In one smooth motion Lonnie ran up, grabbed the taser from the floor, and tased the bot in the back.

The bot’s hold on Kyle slacked, now that it was stunned. Kyle ducked out from under the bot and backed away to Rogelio, letting Lonnie handle the bot.

T he bot, regaining control of its body, turned around to face Lonnie. It leaned back to strike Lonnie with the blade hand. Lonnie moved one hand near the business end of her taser, and blocked the blade hand with the taser over her face. She started backing up, leading the bot away from Kyle and Rogelio.

“Kyle,” grunted Lonnie, “untie Rogelio so that we can get OUT of here!” The bot swung with its other hand, interrupting Lonnie. She dodged out of the and continued backing up.

Kyle ran over behind Rogelio and began fiddling with the rope on his wrists, but he couldn’t get the knot undone. They were running out of time. Kyle tried to grab Rogelio’s fingers and use them to cut the rope, but his fingers were not that flexible; bending them too much would cause Rogelio pain. 

There must be  _ something _ Kyle could use to cut the rope! He looked around the room. He saw Lonnie and the bot fighting, the cracked mirror wall, and his bag. Seeing his old bag gave him a vague plan, but it was better than nothing.

Kyle ran over to his bag in the corner of the room while avoiding the fight between the bot and Lonnie. Once at the bag, he crouched down and rummaged through the contents of the half empty bag. The fuzzy plan in Kyle’s head became a little more clearer when he pulled out one of the two Cup-and-ball toys. Rogelio, who had been watching Kyle, gave him a curious look. Kyle gave him a jittery shrug, but continued on.

Toy in hand, Kyle ran back across the room and stood by the crack in the mirror. He gripped the toy, and smashed the handle of the object into the mirror. The mirror shattered at the impact and crystalline shards flew everywhere across the floor. The bot turned around to see what just happened, but Lonnie used it as an opportunity to taze the bot again.

“What are you doing?” demanded Lonnie from across the room. Rogelio was looking at Kyle curiously. Without explaining, Kyle crouched down and scanned the floor looking for a big, sharp shard. His eyes eventually landed on one that was triangle shape and that could fit in one hand. He ran to it, his boots crushing other tinier pieces of mirror, and gingerly picked it up. 

Kyle ran back over behind Rogelio, who was eying the glass shard warily. Kyle’s tape from his mouth was still on the floor from earlier, and he picked it up and wrapped it around one end of the mirror shard. Using it as a knife, Kyle started cutting the rope. Rogelio looked over his shoulder and looked at Kyle, impressed. 

Only a minute passed before Rogelio’s hands were finally free. Rogelio flexed his hands and stretched his shoulders, then eyed the bot, confidence dripping from his figure. He was about to move towards the fight, but with the tape still wrapped around his snout. 

“Wait!” said Kyle, and Rogelio stopped to glance at him. Kyle stood on his toes and moved his hand up towards Rogelio’s face. Rogelio held his breath, and Kyle slowly removed the tape off of Rogelio’s mouth. Kyle patted the area on the top of Rogelio’s snout where the tape was. “There, now we’re all free!”

Rogelio stared blankly at Kyle, but then gave him an awkward smile. He then ran off to help Lonnie.

Kyle paid full attention to the bot then. It was currently using its sword hand to slash at Lonnie when it noticed Rogelio coming up behind it. It moved its other hand, the gun hand, and pointed it directly at the incoming Rogelio, getting ready to fire.

But Rogelio was a lot faster than the bot thought. With a fierce snarl on his face, Rogelio grabbed the bot’s arm with his left hand, holding it very tight. With a growl, the bot’s gun hand was ripped away from its body, and Rogelio tossed the severed hand to the ground behind him.

Expressionless as ever, the bot quickly turned and attempted to slash at Rogelio with its other hand. Rogelio was ready however, and caught the incoming arm at its flat forearm.

The bot struggled at the grip, but it didn’t slacken. Rogelio pulled the bot close and headbutted the bot hard. Rogelio let go of its arm as it fell to the floor, sparks flying from its dented face. For good measure, Rogelio stomped on the bot’s chest with his foot, leaving it flattened and the bot motionless.

Everyone held their breath for a few seconds in the weary silence that followed. After the bot didn’t get back up, Rogelio removed his foot off its chest. The distant noises of patrolling bots could be heard outside, but thankfully none of them have checked that building yet.

With the time they had, Rogelio forced the other two to take stock of their injuries. Rogelio decided that none of them were badly hurt, since the fight didn’t last a tremendously long time. Kyle looked at the discarded bot hand, and impulsively stuck it in the bag. Lonnie asked why the heck he wanted that thing, but his simple response was “it could be useful later.” He also pocketed the glass shard with tape he used, figuring it could be used as a makeshift knife.

Rogelio gave a small growl to get Kyle’s attention. When they turned to look, Rogelio nodded his head towards the door, and towards the woods outside of Thaymor. They were getting out of here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I kinda like writing fight scenes, I thought I’d hate it.
> 
> Edit: yo im sorry for the weird indents


	3. Change of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Trio has escaped Thaymor. Rogelio has ideas on what to do next, but he's having trouble communicating his suggestion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important stuff first: for this chapter I use the terms 'rebels' and 'princesses' interchangeably.
> 
> Sry I updated late, I haven't had the time to really edit extensively like I usually do with other chapters. I might take a break from writing because of current events so no promises for when the next chapter will be up (but it will be up I promise).

Rogelio led Kyle and Lonnie out of the building. Kyle stayed close to Rogelio, feeling powerless against the bots, and Lonnie held the rear. 

The small town was swarming with bots and weird looking hordaks. The first time the three saw one, they were very confused. They quickly deduced after seeing a second one that they must be clones or copies of hordak, but they had no idea how that was possible.

Thaymor was now the property of this new invasion force; it was swarming with bots and there were no villagers in sight. The villagers either escaped or were captured; good riddance, Rogelio thought.

Outside the village, jutting out from the forest, was an enormous tower. It was definitely not there the night before.The bots and hordaks seemed to be coming from that direction.

Getting out of the village was nerve wracking. The three advanced when they could but had to hide behind different buildings when bots approached. They either had to wait for bots to continue on their patrol, or have Rogelio swiftly and quietly take them down. The air was thick with tension the entire time.

After what felt like an eternity, the three were approaching the outer ring of houses. They were hiding behind one of them, waiting for a hordak clone to pass by, when Rogelio heard something that made him jump.

“Hey, ready to go again?”

_ Adora _ . Rogelio grew anxious. They could  _ not _ deal with Adora right now, getting out of this town was hard enough as is. He peaked around the building to try and spot her, and see if the three of them were in any position to escape.

He spotted her, but she wasn’t looking at them, she was looking at the clone.  _ Oh thank god, _ she wasn’t talking to them. She hasn’t even seen them yet. Does this mean she was on their side? Or should they still get away while they still had the chance?

Rogelio looked down to find Lonnie and Kyle peeking out from behind the building as well. He would let them be, but he hoped they wouldn’t blow their cover.

Rogelio looked back and saw the clone running towards Adora. Before the clone even got close however, a flying horse with a unicorn horn flew in and kicked the clone down. A guy that fights with a bow and arrow popped out of a bush as the clone was falling down, and shot an arrow that turned into a net at the clone. Finally, Scorpia popped up from behind Adora and shot red lightning at the clone. That was new.

The rebels’ attacks look really cool when their attacks aren’t directed at Rogelio and his friends.

Scorpia walked over to the fainted clone and picked it up. They walked up the hill, headed towards the forest with the captured clone.

Rogelio turned to the other two. He pointed at the three of them, and then pointed to where the rebels were going. It took Lonnie a moment to get it. 

“You want to follow them?!” she exclaimed. “Nuh-uh, that's way too dangerous. What if Adora attacks us?”

“Well,” said Kyle, “I don’t think she would be too bad. Did you notice she doesn’t have the sword?”

Rogelio noticed that too. The sword that lets Adora transform into She-Ra wasn’t with her. It’s one of the reasons he wants to follow them.

But the main reason Rogelio wanted to follow them was to find out more about what’s going on, and what this new weird green horde is. They’ll probably find out if they listen to the rebel’s conversation with the clone. 

Rogelio looked back at the rebels as they were disappearing into the forest. It was now or never. He took a step out past the cover and waved the other two to follow him. 

Kyle looked at Lonnie, waiting for her to make a decision. “Argh! Fine,” she said. “But we’re leaving at the first sign of danger.”

Rogelio nodded curtly at Lonnie. With Rogelio’s leadership, they made their way to where the rebels were heading. The rebels stopped at a clearing in the forest, and had leaned the clone against a tree. They seemed to be waiting for the clone to wake up.

Rogelio, Kyle, and Lonnie stood off to the right of the rebels and were crouched out of sight. They were close enough to the rebels to hear them when they were talking, but not too close as to be seen.

Kyle stayed behind Rogelio and Lonnie. He was repeatedly scraping his finger on the straps of his backpack. Lonnie slapped his hand away from the straps, in fear that the rebels might hear them. 

Rogelio could tell the other two were nervous. He was pretty nervous too. He tried to hide the way his hands clenched and unclenched while watching Adora.

Finally, the rebels and the trio heard a groaning sound. The clone was waking up.

Rogelio, Kyle, and Lonnie focused in. They saw Adora point her staff at the clone.

“Alright,” said Adora, “Horde Prime took my friend Glimmer and I want her back.”

Rogelio didn’t know any of the princesses by name, but if he were to hazard a guess, Glimmer was probably the sparkly one. And who the heck was Horde Prime? So are these people from the horde?

The clone responded, “your friend is an honored guest of Horde Prime, emperor of the Galactic Horde, ruler of the known universe…” Rogelio stopped paying attention there.  _ Ruler of the known universe? _ Was that tower from space? Was the horde from space? Was Hordak?

Rogelio shook his head and tried to tune back in. “...far from your poultry world.” Yup, definitely from space.

The clone kept talking devotedly about the glorious Horde Prime. The rebels all groaned and Scorpia moved in to shut the clone up. That got a nervous chuckle out of Kyle. 

But then the conversation took a weird turn. The clone started talking about the rebels, about how they left Bright Moon. And how easy they were to find…

Suddenly, a giant moon shaped firework exploded into the sky. Adora and the others looked shocked. “That’s Mica’s symbol!” said the one with the arrows. They all ran to where the firework originated, leaving the clone tied up. It didn’t mind, as it just sat there staring off into space.

No one spoke as they were absorbing all the information they heard. Rogelio turned to face the other two, wanting to hear their thoughts. 

“So, was Hordak an alien?” said Kyle. “Were we working for an alien invasion?”

“We need to get to the Crimson Waste,” said Lonnie. “We can’t stay here, it’s too dangerous.”

Rogelio noticed Kyle fiddling with his pack straps again. “Yeah Lonnie is right, I don’t think this is a safe place.”

While Rogelio was inclined to agree, he also thought about what the clone was saying. That horde prime had a  _ galactic _ empire, and how great and powerful he was. That speech was obviously very biased, but with that and the towers everywhere, it was obvious Prime’s plan was to conquer Etheria.

And if that were the case, they weren’t really safe anywhere.

Well, except maybe with the princesses.

They apparently had been fighting this alien force since the beginning. And all of them were extremely powerful, even if they didn’t have She-Ra anymore. He hated to admit it, but the rebellion might actually be the safest place right now; it was the lesser of two evils.

Kyle and Lonnie - well mostly Lonnie - were making plans for getting to the Crimson Waste.

Rogelio growled at the two to get their attention. He pointed towards where the rebels were going, like he did before.

Lonnie gave him an incredulous look. “ _ Why  _ do you still want to follow them? We need to  _ get out of here. _ ”

Rogelio didn’t know how to explain himself. It wasn’t something he could easily portray through charades. He looked at Kyle and hoped he’d help him out, but all Kyle did was shrug.

With a big sigh, he tried the charades.

Rogelio pointed at the hordak clone, the tower by Thaymor in the sky, and finally made a circle with his hands to show that there were probably more towers everywhere on the planet. He then pointed back towards where the rebels were going.

Kyle and Lonnie looked at him in silence. Kyle shrugged at him.

Rogelio growled in frustration and tried again. He pointed at the now disappearing firework, urging the two to trust him.

“No! It makes no sense!” said Lonnie.

“Well” started Kyle.

“Don’t argue! We need to get out of here, it isn’t safe!”

_ Nowhere is safe! _ Thought Rogelio. Lonnie started to turn and walk away, heading in the general direction of the Crimson Waste. Rogelio quickly looked at Kyle for help.

But he suddenly had a very stupid idea.  _ Fuck it. _ He snatched Kyle and picked him up underhand.

Kyle's surprised yelp caught Lonnie’s attention. She turned around just as Rogelio ran off towards where the firework originated. 

“ROGELIO!!”

Rogelio heard his name angrily being called as he ran towards the princesses. He was thankful to hear Lonnie following him.

###

Rogelio was panting and staring at the ground, tired from running and carrying Kyle at the same time (not that Rogelio minded). Kyle was next to him standing on the outskirts of a huge depression in the middle of the forest. Broken down Rebel tents were in the clearing, along with several princesses and magicians fighting a whole lot of bots. This is where the firework originated from.

Rogelio heard Lonnie running up behind them. He looked to his left, past Kyle, and spotted Lonnie giving him the stink eye. Rogelio looked back down at the ground.

“Why didn’t you try to break out Kyle,” said Lonnie.

“Uhhhhh. W- well I- uh, wanted to look for Scorpia!” he said.

Ever since Adora left the horde, they had all gotten closer to Scorpia. She was very kind and watchful of them, even if she was a clutz. 

Lonnie broke through Rogelio’s train of thought. “Well we’re here, now what. Are we supposed to help them?”

Rogelio was at a loss. This was supposed to be a pretty safe place, but obviously they were all in the middle of an important battle. He shrugged and pointed at his eyes with two fingers, and pointed those two fingers at the battle.

For now, they just watch.

They stood there for a few minutes, watching the princesses and the rebels fight. They saw Adora and Scorpia in the fray, thankfully not dying. It looks like Scorpia finally connected to her runestone, as she was shooting red lighting out of her claws.

But they also saw Shadow Weaver there. Was she seriously fighting for the rebellion? Rogelio didn’t want to deal with all the rebels  _ and _ Shadow Weaver.

Rogelio also noticed that Adora really  _ wasn’t _ fighting with the sword. She-Ra really was gone. But they saw that Adora was still kicking butt, as she was getting help from the other princesses.

He was impressed at how well they all worked together.

At one point, Adora sent a bot Scorpia’s way, and she destroyed it effortlessly with her new power. But this left Scorpia wide open, and she didn’t notice the bot charging up its gun behind her. She turned to advancing bots on her side, but still failed to notice the danger behind her. 

Suddenly, Kyle stood up and ran down the incline to where Scorpia was. Rogelio and Lonnie screamed at him to stop, but he ran down the hill at full speed. Rogelio saw him taking off his backpack and looking for something in it as he ran.

Rogelio stood up too and ran after Kyle, hoping that he could protect him. 

Kyle stood right behind Scorpia, between her and the bot. Just as Scorpia turned around to see Kyle, the bot fired. Rogelio was only halfway down, he wouldn’t make it in time. He reached out towards Kyle and let out a gut wrenching roar as the bullet at light shot out from the bot.

Kyle put his arm out, and the bullet bounced off him and back at the bot. Something in Kyle’s hand broke, and he was flung back. Scorpia managed to catch him as he cried out in pain. 

As Rogelio got closer, he saw shards of glass on the ground where Kyle was. Kyle must have grabbed a shard of glass from Thaymor and used it to deflect the bullet, but it shattered as a consequence. 

Rogelio finally made it to the downed Kyle in Scorpia’s claws. He had cuts all over his face and hands from the glass shattering. Nothing too intense, but the few blood streaks on Kyle’s face weren’t pretty.

“Here take care of him!” said Scorpia. “I’ll cover you!”

Rogelio sat down and took Kyle in his arms. Rogelio cleaned off any excess glass on his face. He looked in Kyle’s bag, which was on the floor beside him, to see if he could find anything to treat his wounds.

“Don’t be so frantic, it’s not like I’m dying,” said Kyle with a sad look. “Also, tell Scorpia to cover Lonnie.”

He looked over to see Lonnie running down the hill too, tasing any bots that got to close so that she could run past. Rogelio turned around to find Scorpia shooting at a different direction.

Rogelio tapped Scorpia’s foot to get her attention, and then pointed at the bots chasing Lonnie.

Scorpia turned and shot at the bots bothering Lonnie. Lonnie cowered at the incoming lighting, but when it didn’t hit her, she continued running closer to Rogelio.

“Why did you do that!?” said Lonnie when she got close to them. Kyle gingerly stood up while ignoring Rogelio’s protesting.

Kyle sighed. “Because what good am I if I can’t help my friends.”

Rogelio and Lonnie gave each other a look.

###

With Kyle’s face washed with some water from his bag, the three waited for the fight to be over. Scorpia protected them well, so they didn’t have to worry about fighting any of Horde Prime’s forces. 

Soon, the battle was over. Rogelio and Lonnie had hoped that the rebels hadn’t noticed them, and that they could sneak away unnoticed. But before they could argue about whether they should leave or not, Adora and the others started walking towards them and Scorpia. 

Thoughts of dread filled Rogelio’s head.

All three of them stood up, and Kyle stepped behind Rogelio. Rogelio tried to shove Lonnie behind him too, but she wouldn’t budge and stood right beside him. Scorpia walked up from behind them and stood at Rogelio’s side, but she was standing farther away then he would have liked.

Adora and Bow led the group that came towards them, consisting of basically all the rebels. The princesses, a magic user, and even Shadow Weaver were all there. They stopped about 10 feet in front of them.

There was a lot of awkward silence as Adora glared at Rogelio, Kyle, and Lonnie. Scorpia looked pretty uncomfortable. 

Adora spoke first, “Why in the world are you guys here?” There was some malice in her voice.

There was no response. Kyle and Lonnie gave Rogelio a look, as if wondering the same thing.

“Whatever, you guys need to leave.” said Adora sternly. She started to turn but Rogelio growled loudly to stop her. She gave him a look.

_ Oh geez, here we go, _ he thought. Time for charades. Rogelio pointed at one of Horde Prime’s towers in the distance and, instead of making the weird ball motion with his hands like he did earlier, he splayed his arms up and out, to indicate that the towers were everywhere.

Rogelio paused. How was he supposed to say that they wanted protection? Rogelio pointed at the rebels, and thought for a second. He then awkwardly pointed at his group and awkwardly hugged at himself, all while trying and failing to talk.

He could practically hear the crickets in the silence that followed. 

Adora waved her hand in frustration. “Ok, well whatever. You guys still need-”

“How did you find us?” sneered Shadow Weaver. Her voice ran a shiver down Rogelio’s spine.

“We saw Adora and Scorpia interrogating that Hordak clone,” said Lonnie. “Then we followed the signal in the sky.”

Shadow Weaver gave Adora and the magic user, presumably who sent up the signal, an accusatory look. 

“Hah _ aaah _ !” Scorpia interrupted the silence. “Well we’ve all had a long day, so why don't we all get some sleep and talk about it in the morning?”

Adora looked at Scorpia tiredly. “Scorpia, our camp is destroyed. We were going to move camps.”

“Great!” Scorpia wrapped one arm around Rogelio, Kyle, and Lonnie. “Lets go!” Rogelio and Kyle tried to smile convincingly.

“No,” shouted Adora, “we can't bring them! They’re from the Horde.

Everyone looked at her condescendingly.

“Ok- well it's still not a good idea!”

“I don't know,” said a girl with a lot of flowers in her hair. Probably the plant princess. “They seem pretty nice.  _ Especially  _ compared to Shadow Weaver.”

“Yeah,” said the water princess, “and at least they actually tried to protect one of us unlike Entrapta.” She was talking about Kyle protecting Scorpia.

“At least let us rest with you guys for a while?” pleaded Kyle, deciding to help Rogelio out. “It’s not like we work for the Horde anymore, we left even before the stars came back!”

Adora angrily stared at Scorpia and Rogelio, who were both making puppy dog eyes. It was amazing how quickly the aggression towards the newcomers deescalated. She slapped her face with her hand.

“Fine!” she shouted. “Come on!”

The rebels turned and let Adora walk past them. They all started walking away from the camp and towards the forest. Rogelio, Kyle, Lonnie, and Scorpia followed behind the crowd. They had a friendly chat as they started their journey into the woods. 

Some of the rebels looked back to glance at the newcomers, but none of them ever came and talked to them. Rogelio wondered if he was making the right call.

###

Rogelio, Kyle, and Lonnie sat away from the new camp, which was deep in the magical forest. They sat away from the rebels, enjoying the night sky on the edge of a cliff. 

Well they were, until an enormous hologram of Horde Prime appeared before the giant towers that could be seen from the cliff. They were far away, but they were obviously huge. Prime kept monologuing about how the world would be remade in his image, and gave empty threats about catching She-Ra. 

Kyle and Lonnie stared in shock at the threatening figure. Rogelio was growling angrily at the holograms, but stopped and looked at the other two when its speech was over.

They just stared in shock. Rogelio wondered if they finally got what he was trying to say.

“Those towers are  _ everywhere _ ,” said Lonnie breathily. She leaned against a tree in disbelief. “We- we aren’t really safe anywhere,”

Kyle said, “where are we going to go? Where can we stay?”

Rogelio tried to bring his point across again; he nodded his head toward the direction of camp.

“So, you think the princesses can beat the invasion?” asked Kyle.

Rogelio shrugged, but he pointed outside towards the towers with one hand, and pointed towards the rebel camp with the other. He then moved his arms up and down like a scale, as if weighing something.

Lonnie looked at him inquisitive, but it was Kyle who got it first. “Oh, you’re saying its a choice between staying with the princesses or going out there with Prime’s forces.”

Rogelio let out a sigh and nodded at Kyle.  _ Finally they got it, _ he thought sadly.

“Well, I vote we stay with the princesses,” said Kyle.

Kyle and Rogelio looked at Lonnie, and she sighed. “Yeah ok fine, when you put it like that it makes more sense to stay with the rebels.” 

Wow, that was easy. Rogelio wished they didn’t have to go through these hoops just to communicate with each other.

There was a peaceful yet eerie silence that followed: the group’s decision to stay with the rebels was a huge change in plans. But the silence was interrupted by Entrapta’s shrill voice in the distance.

“Woooow, this is fucking  amazing !”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let Entrapta say fuck.


	4. The Princesses Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rogelio really doesn’t want to get involved in fighting some intergalactic alien invasion force, but fate (and Entrapta) have other plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long, this chapter was pretty hard for me to write, the idea is pretty different from what I usually write. Thats why its a two parter, so I can at least post something. (Also I've been busy with my internship thing, but this week is my last so)
> 
> (Also sorry about the lack of indents on some of the paragraphs? I'll try to fix it later.)

Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie were walking towards the rebel camp. After seeing a big scary hologram talking about world domination, the want to stargaze mysteriously vanished. The night air felt cold and dry.

No one talked for the rest of the way back, despite the opportunity to do so. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts.

Rogelio’s hands were stuck to his side, and he was intertwining his fingers with themselves. He refused to look at any of his companions. Lonnie was staring intently at the ground as she walked, her face was all scrunched up.

Surprisingly, Kyle was the only one with a somewhat neutral face. He definitely didn’t look happy by any means, but he seemed to be adapting to the situation.

“So do we follow the orders of the princesses?” asked Kyle. “Or is it going to be a little more laid back than the Horde?”

Rogelio winced as if he was pinched, but he quickly forced his expression back into a neutral one.

“ARGH this is nuts!” said Lonnie. “The whole point of leaving the Horde was so we didn’t have to deal with these kinds of situations.”

They continued walking. They were almost nearing the camp.

Ducking under a branch, Kyle said, “You don’t want to be here?”

“Kyle, 2 days ago this was an  _ enemy camp _ , does that seem like a situation we want to be in.”

“But they aren’t our enemies anymore right?”

Before long they were at the outskirts of the camp, weaving through shoulder high tents to continue their conversation.

“They might not see it that way,” said Lonnie.

Kyle gave Lonnie a look, but said nothing. He was pretty sure the other princesses wouldn’t hold a grudge.

Eventually the three passed the mess of tents and were planning to sit on one of the logs around the central campfire. But Kyle wasn’t paying attention and bumped into the back of one of the princesses.

The water princess - the one Kyle bumped into - whipped around to glare at him.

“Oh uh, s- sorry,” he stuttered. Well, he might as well introduce himself. “I’m Kyle.”

The princess gave him a look. “Mermista.”

They both stood there staring; Mermista’s eyes were like lasers. Kyle looked around the circle and saw other princesses, including Scorpia, sitting around the campfire as well. Was he interrupting something?

Suddenly, Kyle felt Rogelio’s hand on his shoulder, and when he turned back to look at the lizard, he saw Lonnie staying back behind Rogelio. Kyle turned back to the princesses and gave them a nervous wave.

“N- nice meeting you.” He started to walk away

“Wait!” said Scorpia from across the fire. “Do you want to meet everyone else?”

Lonnie responded, “Nah, we’re good. It's getting late.” She pulled the two boys along and they walked off.

This part of camp - the main part - was set up around the central campfire. There were tents surrounding it on the east side, and on the west side about 15 feet away was the biggest tent - Adora’s tent. On the sides of this tent were a few others lined up.

Since this was a forest and not one big clearing, the rest of camp was in other clearings in the forest, all within walking distance of course. But they were behind clusters of trees.

The three didn’t want to go back to their tents yet, so they stayed in the main part of camp. They sat down by the second tent away from Adora’s tent. 

They were silent for a while. They noticed the princesses whispering and glancing over at them, but they tried to ignore them

“Maybe you have a point,” said Kyle.

“Yeah I know,” said Lonnie. “And have you noticed Adora? You’d think she would have been happy to see us.”

Adora hadn’t been very friendly towards them today. While most of the soldiers and refugees at camp at least tried to say hi - and some had even given them a tent and supplies - Adora hasn’t said a word to any of them. She could have just been overly cautious, but it still felt weird. In a few days, Lonnie thought Adora might trust them enough to be a little more civil, but until then no dice.

“What do you guys think,” she asked.

The boys glanced up at Lonnie from staring at the floor. Rogelio shrugged and tried to make his face neutral again, but he was more stiff than usual. He was obviously not ok.

Kyle was a little more open about his feelings. “Do you think they’ll ever be friendly towards us?” he asked, nodding behind him towards the princesses. “I don’t think I can handle it if they are all mean.”

Rogelio’s face tightened a bit more. Lonnie tried to comfort Kyle, “... It will definitely be better than it was in the horde. You know how princesses are.”

“Yeah…”

Suddenly, they heard Mermista groan. They looked over to find that the other princesses had followed Entrapta away from the campfire. Entrapta was currently fiddling with a little gadget, ignoring the princess.

Mermista spoke, “If you help us find Glimmer, you can go to space.”

Entrapta lit up. She suddenly gave Mermista her full attention as she turned around and got up to Mermista’s face. “GREAT!” she squealed.

They stared at each other for a second. “So what are we going to do?” asked Mermista with a forced smile.

“Well our best bet is to get to use the tower to track a signal, I’ll need my pad so I can pick up the stray signal’s the tower broadcasts…”

Entrapta rambled on as she tapped randomly on her pad, talking about what information she will need to look for. In her ramblings though, she looked over and managed to make eye contact with Kyle.

“Oh!” said Entrapta. She walked over to Kyle and asked him, “You were my lab assistant correct?”

That took Kyle off guard. “Um, Catra told me to keep an eye on you? Is that what a lab partner is.”

“Well, I lost my other lab partner, Hordak, you’re the next best thing. I’m sure you’ll do fine!” Kyle didn’t have time to respond before Entrapta turned around and yelled at Mermista, “can we take my lab assistant!”

The princesses gave Kyle an unkind look, but they walked over anyway.

“Uh.. Entrapta?” Kyle said. “We aren’t with the Horde anymore, I'm not your assistant.”

“Yeah,” said Mermista, standing behind Entrapta. “I don’t think it's the best idea letting him come.” 

Rogelio subtly put two of his fingers on Kyle’s arms, urging him to stay here, away from the danger. Kyle got the message, and he tried to make further excuses. “Yeah, Entrapta, I’m not really good for anything.”

“What do you mean?”

Kyle said, “I can’t fight Entrapta! Why should I come with you guys.”

“If you’re worried about your fighting capabilities I have a solution for that!” she said excitedly. “Wait right here, I’ll be right back.”

“Wait no,” said Mermista. “Entrapta-”

But she was already gone. Heading off into the forest.

As soon as the trees consumed her, something dawned on Lonnie. “Oh no, that's where our tent is isn't it.”

Rogelio realized it as soon as Lonnie said it. With a sigh, he nodded his head.

Annoyed, Lonnie got up and ran after Entrapta.

###

It only took half a minute to find their shared tent, but when Lonnie got there, Entrapta was nowhere to be found. Kyle’s bag was outside the tent, already opened and lacking some of its stuff.

Lonnie scanned the sea of tents that were all arranged in a cluster. She spotted Entrapta in front of a table under a makeshift canopy.

Lonnie walked over and ducked under the slightly-below-eye-level tarp. She stood behind Entrapta, who was obviously tinkering with something on the table.

“Entrapta don’t go rummaging through our stuff again!” she said.

“Yeah yeah yeah ok.” said Entrapta, vaguely waving behind her, not paying attention.

Lonnie sighed. “What are you tinkering with anyway?” She looked over Entrapta’s shoulder to see one of the guns from Prime’s bots. It must be the one Kyle grabbed in Thaymor. It was about the same length as one of the Horde’s tasers but about 2 times the width.

It was obviously tinkered with though. The wires have been cleaned up and there was a hole where the gun used to be attached to the bot. There was also a bit of thick purple wire sticking out of the end of the gun. 

Entrapta happily explained, “Oh this is for my assistant.”

Lonnie waited for  _ more  _ of an explanation, but she didn't get one. “Why?” she asked.

“Well he said his combat skills weren’t up to par, but with this his capabilities should increase several times over!”

That didn’t really explain why Entrapta wanted Kyle to come in the first place, but before she could ask, commotion from behind the trees interrupted them.

Mermista appeared from behind the trees, looking very impatient. “WE NEED TO LEAVE, ENTRAPTA!” 

“Ok!” said Entrapta. She picked up the bot gun with both hands and the pad with her hair. She walked over to the trees, followed by Lonnie. The other princesses, Kyle, and Rogelio were starting to appear behind the trees and out into the clearing. They all jumped at the sight of Entrapta carrying a gun.

“Entrapta…” said the flower princess with a forced smile, “what is that?”

“I found this bot’s gun in a bag earlier today, and I wanted to remodify it so that we could use it,” Entrapta explained. “You put your hand in this hole here,” Entrapta pointed at the end of the gun, “and using the trigger on the inside you can fire the laser just like the bots do!” She thrusted the gun towards Kyle.

Kyle looked at Entrapta with puppy dog eyes. “Wow, thank you Entrapta.” Lonnie was surprised by the warmth in Kyle’s voice.

“Try it out!” she said.

Kyle gingerly put his hand in the hole of the gun. Inside, he felt a bar he could grab on with, and a trigger placed by his index finger he was careful not to press.

Kyle strained when Entrapta let go of it, and he felt its weight. His hand fell to his side. It wasn’t that heavy, but it would be hard to use when it was only on one hand. 

The gratitude he felt for Entrapta faded somewhat. But Kyle still gave Entrapta an awkward smile for her efforts. She smiled widely. 

“Great! Now lets go guys,” she said, pointing confidently in the direction of the tower.

Kyle and Mermista looked at each other and then at Entrapta. They both started to argue, “Wait-”

But Entrapta was already walking off towards the tower.

Mermista groaned and simply followed Entrapta, grumbling about how they might not survive. Scorpia put a claw around Kyle’s shoulder and gave him a smile, and she dragged him along to follow the other princesses.

Rogelio and Lonnie watched them go, standing alone in the clearing. After a few seconds, Rogelio took a step towards them. 

“Where are you going?” asked Lonnie.

Rogelio growled and pointed towards the shrinking party. 

“Why?”

Rogelio simply snorted. They both knew Lonnie had a harder time understanding him than Kyle. 

“Ok, fine,” Lonnie groaned. “Just be careful, and take care of Kyle.”

_ That’s the plan, _ thought Rogelio. He gave Lonnie a curt nod, and ran off to catch up with the others. 

Lonnie watched them go. After they disappeared through the trees, she looked towards the main clearing with the campfire, and towards Adora’s tent.

###

The warmth that had once irradiated off the trees seemed to be vanishing. The forrest didn’t seem as welcoming anymore; everything had a little less magic within it.

But at least the forest didn’t feel threatening; it didnt feel like a starving animal desperate for food. Far from it. It almost felt like the forest was cowering, afraid of what might happen to it. The leaves had less color, the animal sounds more scarce, and the trees were spaced out less densely.

Rogelio ran his fingers across the rough bark of a nearby tree. The skin of the tree deteriorated quickly and fell to the ground. 

Rogelio continued walking besides Scorpia and Kyle, who were oblivious to his inner turmoil. He looked up through the leaves at Prime’s green tower. It was a tall structure with long sharp edges jutting out from its side. Bright green accents creeped up the entire thing. 

Rogelio looked at Kyle, making sure that he wasn't getting too tired carrying the gun. He was holding it with both hands now instead of having one of his arms inside the gun. Rogelio caught Kyle staring longingly behind them, at the direction of the camp. He didn’t blame him; taking a trek towards a bot-infested did not do anything to calm the nerves.

Rogelio had tried to keep his mind off things by having light conversation with Kyle and Scorpia, but now that he could see the tower through the trees, he was having a harder time distracting himself.

It wasn’t supposed to end up like this. This isn’t what Rogelio had in mind when joining the rebellion. This was supposed to be their safe option, but here they were all walking into the lion’s den.

Were they going to have to go on every mission? Would him and his friends have to work with these people? Were they going to be worked ragged just like in the Horde?

“Rogelio!”

Rogelio snapped back to reality at the sound of his name. He looked left and saw Kyle, and Scorpia. It was Scorpia who had called his name.

“Perfect,” Scorpia put her claws together, “now that I have your attention, would you two like to meet everyone?”

Kyle groaned knowingly; this wasn't a new topic of conversation. “I don’t know Scorpia, it doesn't sound like a good idea.”

Scorpia said, “oh cmon, they’d love you!”

Kyle seemed to think about it. “Well, knowing their names might be nice.”

“Great! Let’s do it.”

“Huh? Oof!” Kyle was slapped in the back by Scorpia’s claw. He was dragged towards the plant and ice princess. Mermista and Entrapta were walking in the front, away from everyone else, so Kyle was going to meet these two first.

Scorpia seemed to overlook Rogelio, so he decided to stay back and listen to conversation.

“Hey it's about time you guys knew each other,” said Scorpia, with Kyle standing silently beside her. “Perfuma, Frosta, meet Kyle! Kyle, meet Perfuma and Frosta.”

“Nice to meet you!” said Perfuma.

“Hi,” said Frosta.

“Uh, hi.” Kyle stood there staring at them for a few seconds. Everyone seemed to have run out of things to say very quickly. 

Trying to pick up the conversation, Perfuma asked, “so what’s it like being out of the Horde?”

Kyle bounce the gun he was carrying in his hands. Him and his friends weren’t ready to answer that question yet. “O- Oh um, I don’t know yet.”

“A good thing about being out of the Horde is trying out all the food!” exclaimed Scorpia. “Some foods even come stabbed in little sticks so you can eat them.”

“Really?” asked Kyle.

“Yeah! Remember princess prom?”

Kyle paused as he thought back to that day. Suddenly Kyle exclaimed, “that was food?”

Rogelio kept listening in as they continued to talk about food. Rogelio wasn’t too interested in it, but luckily the conversation shifted into something a little more interesting: their powers.

Rogelio got nervous when Kyle asked how Perfuma’s power worked. Would the princesses think that was a suspicious question? Would they think they were just keeping tabs on them to betray them later?

Surprisingly, Perfuma answered Kyle’s questions (she couldn’t actually spontaneously grow plants, but she can still use her power inside of buildings by controlling the plants under the floor).

Frosta peaked at Kyle, “so are you going to fight with that?”

Kyle looked down at the weapon Entrapta gave him. He was definitely not strong enough to wield it effectively with only one hand. It would be pretty hard to lift and aim.

“It’s pretty heavy,” he said.

Suddenly, Frosta jumped up excitedly. “Let me try!” she said. Before Kyle could object, her right arm started glowing. Ice started forming on her arm, and when it stopped, a blue replica of the gun was on her arm.

She lifted it up to her face and pointed it around, as if looking for an enemy to fire at, but all Kyle did was chuckle at her. Rogelio flinched when he saw that, but what was Kyle doing? Isn’t he wary?

“Seems pretty light to me.” said Frosta.

“Hey,” said Kyle. “That's not fair, yours is made of ice.”

Scared for Kyle, Rogelio finally decided to join in with the others. He stood between Kyle and Scorpia, and turned to the other princesses.

While Kyle gave Rogelio a smile, his sudden appearance seemed to surprise the princesses. Perfuma yelped and Frosta pointed her fake gun at him. 

Rogelio fought back the urge to growl or show his teeth at the sudden aggression and kept a neutral face. He kept his guard up however and put an arm on Kyle’s shoulder. Rogelio pulled at Kyle’s shoulder, urging him to get behind him.

Kyle turned and gave him a confused look. Rogelio was about to give the signal again but Scorpia interrupted him.

“Guys it's ok,” said Scorpia to Perfuma and Frosta. “This is Rogelio, I knew him from the Horde too.”

Kyle chimed in, “Yeah, he can be a little intimidating.”

Frosta put down the fake gun quickly, and looked a little apologetic. Rogelio felt a pang of guilt though, he  _ did  _ just jump scare them. Rogelio gave them a smile and waved once.

Perfuma said, “yeah, but at least you’re not as intimidating as Scorpia, we attacked her as soon as soon as we saw her.”

Rogelio took offense to that.

“But we like your style,” added Frosta. “Check this out.” her hands started glowing again, but this time instead of an ice gun, ice claws appeared on her hand. 

Rogelio was pretty impressed. Ice was a versatile element. He watched as Frosta swiped her hands in the air, testing the weapons out, and glanced almost nervously at Rogelio.

He gave her a toothy smile.

But Rogelio still didn’t leave his guard down. As they walked to the tower he watched the two princesses carefully. They seemed nice for now, but he knew they couldn’t get used to Horde soldiers this quickly. He knew how easy it was for people to go from polite to hostile.

###

Lonnie stood in the middle of the camp, next to the dim fire. It was dark, but she could still make out everyone’s tents with the little light that she had.

Lonnie sat down and stared at Adora’s tent. She put her elbows on her knees, rested her head on her hands, and sighed.

Today had been so weird. It was amazing how quickly their plans had changed. One moment they were going to the crimson waste, the next they were stuck camping with the people that attacked them constantly.

The thing was, it didn’t feel like they were stuck. Everyone was weirdly welcoming. It wasn’t all great, but it was a lot more friendly than she would have thought.

Everyone at least tried to say hi and gave them a welcome, and at most they them a tent and help them set it up. 

She hoped it would last long. Eventually the rebels would get tired of them - see cracks in her and her friends’ demeanor - and go back to hating them once more. Lonnie just hoped they would let them stay until this whole Prime business was over with… As much as a world threatening event  _ could _ be “over with”.

Suddenly, Lonnie heard a familiar sleepy groan coming from Adora’s tent. She turned, and there was Adora, slogging out of her tent like a zombie. Her tired eyes grew even more sunken in, and she slowly put her head down. A yawn shuddered from the pit of her stomach and burst out through her gaping mouth.

The sight of Adora made Lonnie a little angry. She barely even faked being nice to them today. Adora hasn’t spoken to the three of them at all, and even gives them weird looks sometimes (though she tried to hide it).

Lonnie decided she was going to say something. She walked over to Adora’s tent to talk to her. This couldn’t go  _ too  _ badly right?

###

Once the princesses, Kyle, and Rogelio made it to the edge of the forest, they started discussing what needed to be done to get the signal.

Entrapta explained that she needed to get close to the tower to actually get any useful information. Unfortunately, the tower was guarded by a swarm of surveillance bots, and there were sure to be many ground troops as they got closer to the tower.

The only plan anyone could come up with was just running straight on into danger.

So that's what they did, and it went about as poorly as one would expect.

Eventually, with a lot of running, and a few close calls with Entrapta that Kyle and Rogelio were glad they didn't have to deal with, they all made it to a 3 foot high ridge facing away from the tower that they all ducked behind to rest. This next part would be hard, as the rest of the way barely had any cover.

The seven of them were panting behind a ridge, tired and dirty from all the sneaking and running. There was a slight distance between Kyle and Rogelio and the other princesses. 

They all looked at Mermista to see what they should do next, but suddenly, they all heard a harsh alarm coming from the tower. They looked over the ridge to see the tower flashing red and green and thousands of surveillance drones flying over to where they were hiding. 

Rogelio ducked back down growled at no one in particular. He was frustrated, and they all needed to leave. This was a stupid idea that only a princess could come up with. There was no way two powerless commoners could handle all that. 

Staying meant death.

They again looked at Mermista, Rogelio was expecting the order to retreat.

“AGH, why did I think  _ I  _ could do this,” said Mermista. “I'm not Adora, I'm not a leader! We need to get out of here.”

_ Finally, _ thought Rogelio. He put his hands on the ground to push himself up, but Entrapta started talking.

“What no way.” Mermista and Rogelio looked at her furiously. “The readings I’m getting are fascinating! But its not enough, we have to get closer.”

Mermista had had enough. “SERIOUSLY? We’re all about to die! You don’t care about any of us, you only care about tech!”

Entrapta looked at her and everyone else with her head slightly tilted. “Are you all… mad at me?”

Rogelio heard enough and tuned out the conversation. He didn't care what the princesses did, but he was going to make sure him and Kyle survive.

Kyle was staring at Entrapta. Rogelio couldn’t read his expression but it didn’t matter. He bumped Kyle’s shoulder to get his attention, and signalled to him that they should leave by pointing in the direction of camp.

All Kyle did was turn to face the ground, lost in thought. Rogelio thought he didn’t get it, so he pointed to Kyle and himself, and used his fingers to make a pair of running legs.

“No I get what you mean,” whispered Kyle suddenly, in an angry-adjacent tone of voice. “But… we can’t just leave can we.”

Rogelio huffed incredulously. He waved dramatically at the sky towards the swarm of Prime’s machines coming towards them. It was only a matter time before they would find them, and it wouldn’t be pretty when they did.

Kyle knew that, right?

Kyle watched Rogelio’s intense face thoughtfully. He closed his eyes and sighed. “Yea ok.”

Rogelio took the gun in Kyle’s gun with one hand, and offered his other hand for Kyle to grab. The two locked hands, and Rogelio helped Kyle up. They were just about to make a break for it when they heard commotion behind them. Rogelio stopped to glance over.

Entrapta had run over the ridge towards the tower and all the bots. Mermista ran up behind her and grabbed her by the hair.

Kyle was staring intently at Entrapta like before. Scorpia, Perfuma, and Frosta were staring at her with the same kind of face. 

“Entrapta we have to leave!” shouted Mermista.

“Look!” said Entrapta. “I’m not good with people, but I am good with tech. I thought I could use tech to get to know you guys better, and to get people to like me. I’m sorry I’m not good at being friends with you guys,  _ but you need this signal and I’m going to get it for you!” _

Rogelio didn’t notice when, but at some point during the speech Mermista had let go of Entrapta’s hair.

Mermista stared at Entrapta. “You’re still trying to get the signal?”

“Of course! Glimmer needs us.”

It was Rogelio’s turn to be lost in thought. There were an insane amount of bots between them and the tower, but they were  _ still _ going to go for the tower? Was this person really worth it?

Just then, Mermista shouted, “hey you two!”

Rogelio jumped at the sudden shift in spotlight. He tried to make himself look smaller, suddenly embarrassed at the incriminating position him and Kyle were in. 

Mermista had a playful smirk on her face, seemingly regaining her lost confidence. “Are you two gonna help us or what?”

They didn’t answer immediately. Rogelio still wanted to leave, but Kyle was looking pretty conflicted. Mermista sighed and lost her smirk. Her eyes lost their playful look and her voice took on a more serious tone.

“Listen,” she said. “I know you two have been whispering about getting out of here, and there are a bunch of refugees in camp that you’d probably be safer with. I know initially I wasn’t ok with you guys coming, but you guys were soldiers! You know how to fight and I know you guys do it well. I get that we are princesses with magic powers, and we seem invincible, but we still need fighters in the rebellion. Even if you don’t stay and fight, we’ll do our best to protect you. But  _ please _ , the rebellion needs your help.”

The two stayed silent, not sure of what to say. Kyle glanced over to catch Scorpia smiling at them. Perfuma and Frosta smiled too. 

Rogelio thought about it. It was a pretty honest ask for help, and with the two of them fighting with a bunch of super powered princesses, they could do some damage to Prime. But him and Kyle would have to fight with the people who had attacked them countless times. Did he really want to fight with these people? And what about Kyle? He could barely handle the one bot in Thaymor, could he handle a whole army?

While Rogelio was dealing with indecision, Kyle took a step forward. took a deep breath and faced the princesses with flushed cheeks. Talking a little louder than he needed to, he said, “I’m in!” 

Rogelio looked surprisingly at Kyle, he didn't expect him to be so enthusiastic. It looked like Kyle made the decision for Rogelio. He supposed Kyle would be alright as long as he protected him. Just like he promised Lonnie.

“Ok,” said Mermista. “Frosta, Perfuma, Kyle, on Entrapta…”

… Wait-

“Scorpia, lizard dude, with me. Now!”

Wait! Were they seriously separating them?

__ Kyle bumped Rogelio’s arm and smiled confidently at him. “Good luck!” he said, a little too excited to notice Rogelio’s distress. Kyle turned and started walking behind Perfuma and Frosta, to follow them into battle. Rogelio took a step towards Kyle and reached toward him, when he was blocked by Scorpia’s claw.

Rogelio growled loudly and pleadingly at Scorpia, but she simply smiled at him.

“Don’t worry, I know Kyle isn’t a good fighter, but they have big hearts,” she said. “They’ll take care of him.”

It didn’t matter how big their hearts were, Rogelio didn't believe that for a second. But he wasn’t given much of a choice to argue when Mermista shouted at the two of them to get moving.

Scorpia gave Rogelio another gentle smile, and ran off to follow Mermista. Rogelio looked to try and find Kyle, but he was already gone.

Rogelio hoped beyond hope that he hadn’t made a mistake in staying with the rebellion, but he highly doubted it. He ran to catch up with Scorpia and Mermista, hoping that he would see Kyle again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kinda turned out a bit more angsty than I meant to, I was saving it all for part 2! But yeah at first I wanted Kyle and Rogelio to go to the tower and Lonnie to stay back to talk to Adora, but I didn't know what would happen.
> 
> Originally I had Kyle be the one to reject the invitation to fight at the tower, but I realized he's pretty trusting. (I'll explore Rogelio's thought process more next chapter, and Lonnie's too for that matter).


	5. The Princesses Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys this chapter is so long ya'll better appreciate it. Also, any discrepancies from canon were definitely intentional and not me being lazy at all. Its a feature not a bug (especially with one specific flashback).
> 
> ALSO this is important:  
> yall may have noticed changes with this work. Mainly being: the max chapters changed from 17 to like 6, and its now part of a series. The reason being that I'm splitting this story up into three parts! I have not planned this thing nearly enough to write everything as I go (hence the big difference in chapter length from the first chapter to this one). So we have one last chapter to go before part one is done! (its gonna be a much more laid back chapter trust me.)
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter and ill talk more about the important stuff in the end notes!

Prime’s green and white tower pierced the stars. The purple-pink of Etheria’s magical night sky clashed with the futuristic tower. It was based on a rocky, mountainous space, and murderous robots blocked anyone trying to come close to it. 

Anyone in their right mind would avoid that pace like the plague. Looks like Rogelio was not in his right mind.

He was running with Mermista and Scorpia, who were leading him towards the left side of the tower. Kyle was with Perfuma and Frosta, who were following Entrapta. He didn't know where they were or if they were ok, which made him nervous.

Him and Kyle were two powerless nobodies; they used to be just another face in the Horde army. Now they were fighting alongside superpowered princesses? Going against a space tyrant? Rogelio was stressed with how badly the odds were stacked against them.

But when have the odds ever been in their favor?

Rogelio felt his heart violently beating in his chest as he ran forward through the unpredictable terrain. The sound of his hard boots on the rocky ground carried clearly in his ears as he continued to follow the princesses. His footsteps brought back a memory...

*Crunch crunch crunch crunch*

_ *Splash splash splash splash* _

_ Rogelio ran away, away from the danger and the awful power of the princesses. His breathing sounded loud in his helmet. The attack against the main rebel base, Brightmoon, was going so well when it was just She-Ra and one another princess. But now the other princesses were arriving, and the odds were against them. _

_ He turned to look at his friend-turned-princess Adora, and the dangerous water princess Mermista, as they and the others started glowing ominously with a color to match their power. Rogelio looked in shock as he realized he wasn’t going to outrun them. _

_ An enormous wave rose from the direction of the princesses, aimed at them. He watched as the wave started sweeping his entire platoon, and it was coming straight towards him… _

*whizz!*

Rogelio flinched as a green bullet of light shot past his face. He shook his face to try and escape the memory, and turned his attention back to the task at hand.

Scorpia and Mermista were still running towards the tower, advancing on a large cluster of bots. Commanded by Mermista, Scorpia was taking out the bots long distance. She couldn’t get them all however, and some of the bot’s shots were aimed at him.

He took a stance to dodge the incoming volley of bot projectiles…

_ *blam blam!* _

_ Rogelio ducked and weaved throught the artificial and holographic forest, a staple in Horde training regimens. The round Horde bots shot electric blasts at him and others from his squad: Kyle, Lonnie, Adora, and Catra. _

_ At the threat of an incoming projectile, Rogelio dodged left and advanced quickly on the bot who shot it. His target was wide open; Rogelio flew in and ripped his hand through the bot’s exoskeleton and pulled out a handful of electronics. The bot powered down. _

_ Rogelio smiled, adding another bot death to his mental tally. Rogelio suddenly heard a shrill scream, and turned to find Kyle on the floor with his staff next to him being pinned down by a bot. The bot got a shot in on Kyle’s electronic armor point blank, and it flashed red, signaling that Kyle was out. _

_ Rogelio shook his head. Kyle was well meaning, but that boy would he need help in battle. _

*Pff pff*

Rogelio turned at the new noise. It was slightly different from the regular noises the bots would make. Was it a broken bot? Or a new kind of bot?

He scanned the distant terrain. Standing by the tower was Entrapta, who was so far away she almost looked like a purple against the tower. A ways off from her was Kyle shooting at some bots. His weapon was the source of the noise.

Even though there was distance between him and Kyle, Rogelio could still tell he was missing most of the shots he took. It also looked like the force of the recoil was about to knock him over.

Before Rogelio could worry too much, a wave of plants descended over the bots Kyle was shooting. Perfuma came into view, and prompted Kyle to continue following her. 

Rogelio sighed and turned away from the scene. He hoped Kyle would stay close to Perfuma and Frosta, and that they would keep him safe.

_ *splash splash* _

__ _ The gentle crashing of the ocean waves and the breeze warmed by the sun washed over Rogelio as he leaned over a horde boat. The seas near Salenias were calm and perfect for boating. He let out a calm sigh. _

__ _ But this was anything but a vacation. Behind him, Kyle and Lonnie were tasked with holding the enormous main gun of the ship. All thanks to a fight breaking out on the ship against the rebels. _

__ _ The only reason they were there at Seaport was to attack the sea gate. At least, that's what Catra said, but what she really wanted to do was to look for Adora. But they all wanted to look for her too, so they went along with it. _

__ _ Rogelio watched as Kyle and Lonnie grunted and strained to keep the weapon aimed at the sea gate. Scorpia had been unwise for making them hold it up, instead of having herself or Rogelio do it. Remembering Kyle’s fragility, Rogelio walked over to see if he could offer them his services.  _

__ _ Once he made the gesture to take over, Kyle happily gave Rogelio the job of lifting the lever. Lonnie wasn’t convinced Rogelio could lift the entire thing on his own, so she stayed. Even though Rogelio loudly complained about her staying, he was secretly thankful. _

__ _ They stayed there holding the gun up for a while, but eventually Scorpia told them they could stop. They were to observe the situation now. Scorpia and Lonnie didn't seem to care about where Kyle was, even though they were all a unit. Rogelio looked for him, and eventually spotted him at the other side of the ship, looking off into the distance. He decided to leave him alone. _

__ _ Suddenly, Lonnie yelled in surprise, “What the heck is that?”  _

__ _ Rogelio turned toward the front of the ship to see another, burning ship on a collision course with them. They all started to back up towards the side of the ship, getting ready to jump, when Rogelio remembered Kyle. _

__ _ Kyle was still lost in thought, staring off into space.  _

__ _ With a roar, Rogelio jumped to action and ran towards the boy. Time seemed to go in slow motion. Lonnie lunged for Rogelio, but Scorpia held her back. Rogelio held his tail above the ground as his boots pounded against the boat as he ran. _

__ _ The incoming ship was now close enough to hear its very flames. Rogelio saw Kyle slowly turning, finally registering the danger. His face contorted from that of calm to one of sudden fear.  _

__ _ Rogelio’s legs lazily flew through the air, barely moving him forward with each step. Rogelio was too slow, if only he could be just a little quicker. He roared furiously as he urged his body to go faster. He held his arms out towards Kyle. _

__ _ Rogelio crashed into him, sending them both over the edge of the ship and towards the water. Rogelio pulled Kyle close and turned himself towards the surface of the water, intending to break his fall. They both crashed into the water at the same time as the ships collided above them. _

__ “ROGELIO!”

Rogelio shook his head and found that Kyle was no longer in his field of view. He turned to Mermista, who had called his name. 

Mermista was fighting two bots single handedly with only her spear. Scorpia was dealing with more of them off to the side.

“Help me!” demanded Mermista.

_ Ok, no more distractions. _ Thought Rogelio. He needed to focus. He roared and ran to help Mermista. 

###

“Apologize??? Seriously??” said Adora, standing in front of her bed. “Should I go down the list of terrible stuff  _ you  _ guys haven’t apologized for?”

“Adora-” began Lonnie, but she was interrupted.

“You kidnapped my friends, hacked a runestone, created a DECAYING PORTAL REALITY-”

“I KNOW ADORA. But that's why we left, we didn't want to keep doing that stuff! Doesn’t leaving our home count for something?”

“I’m not just going to forget everything you’ve done!”

Lonnie had had enough, “what about you!?” she asked, pointing at Adora. “You left and terrorized us!”

“I had to leave!”

Lonnie was angry. Furious. She held her hands up, about to say something, but stopped. She didn’t want to argue with Adora in the middle of the night. Lonnie sighed and put her back down.

“Whatever Adora. Just... try and get some sleep.”

“...”

With a soft ruffle of fabric, Lonnie exited Adora’s tent and stepped back under the stars. But the tent wasn’t soundproof, so Lonnie could hear Adora pacing inside, doing the opposite of resting. 

Lonnie couldn’t believe how badly that conversation turned argument had gone, and how deep the pit in her stomach felt. She looked up at the new stars. After just a few seconds Lonnie put her hands up on her face, blocking her vision. She sighed deeply.

All she wanted to do was to talk to Adora. It had been a while since they talked, and she wanted to know if there was any bad air between them. Maybe talking while she was tired had been a bad idea? Lonnie had managed to convince Adora to talk in her tent, but it had all gone downhill from there. They got into an argument, and now there was even more bad air between them. 

Lonnie stomped over to the campfire, now barley glowing without firewood, and sat down on one of the benches. She was too mad to go to sleep.

With a sigh, Lonnie looked at Adora’s tent. If they didn’t make up, Adora might turn everyone else in the rebellion against Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio; they might have to leave. It would be a dreadful situation: being kicked out into a world ruled by Horde Prime. 

Lonnie was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't notice the figure moving behind her. 

The figure came from Adora’s tent. As it started moving closer, the light of the fire shone on the figure. It was a tall man with dark skin, much of which was showing through his armoured crop top. On his back was a quill full of arrows and a bow.

When Lonnie felt a hand on her shoulder, she jumped and quickly turned to stare at the figure. 

“Hi, don't think we’ve properly met yet,” said the figure. “I’m Bow.”

Taking a good look, Lonnie recognized him. He was pretty close to Adora, and she was pretty sure that he was the Horde’s prisoner at one time.

“Lonnie,” she mumbled, turned away to continue looking at the fire.

Bow must have incorrectly taken her silence as an invitation, as he sat down on the other end of the log.

After a few seconds of silence, Bow decided to ruin it, “So some arguing woke me up a little bit ago.”

Lonnie stayed silent. Bow continued, “It kind of sounded like you and Adora.”

“Alright you caught me,” said Lonnie flatly. “Adora and I were talking earlier.”

Bow made a noise, as if he wanted to say something, but he said nothing. They both sat in silence as Lonnie continued looking away from Bow.

But the frustration from her whole situation was boiling up. On top of that, she was curious as to why he was even talking to her.

“Shouldn’t you be talking to Adora instead?” asked Lonnie.  _ Instead of bothering me? _ She thought.

“I did. I made her go to sleep. Adora gets pretty weird when she’s tired.”

Lonnie smiled at herself. She remembered Adora always sleeping badly back in the Horde. She probably would have been horrible at night shifts.

Another silence fell over the camp, but it was thankfully less awkward than before. At least Lonnie thought so. She still was not looking at Bow, though.

“You can trust us y’know,” said Bow suddenly. “We’re all on the same side now”

Lonnie glared at him. She could have really dug into Bow at that moment. She could mention the scars they all got from fighting, the way he tricked Kyle, the fact that it's the rebellion’s fault Catra turned into something ugly.

But she decided not to. Being sour probably wasn’t the best idea, especially since he was trying to be nice. She sighed and finally decided to go with, “tell that to Adora.”

“Yeah,” said Bow meekly. “Sorry about her.”

Lonnie looked away and just glared at the ground.

###

Rogelio wasn’t much help to Mermista; he was getting distracted with his own thoughts. At inopportune moments - like when dodging or attacking - he would sometimes remember an old memory and be pulled into his own mind.

Needless to say, he wasn’t keeping his promise of staying focused. He was concerned for Kyle, and about how the princesses would treat him. The Horde had always forgotten about him, why wouldn’t it be any different here? Rogelio wished he could just be with him in battle.

But at the same time, was he being obsessive? Kyle could take care of himself sometimes right? He wasn't always a total idiot. Well not always anyway.

_ Ah focus! _ thought Rogelio.

Finally able to take a breather, Rogelio surveyed the battlefield. The number of broken bots on the ground was impressive, and there weren’t that many coming out from the tower. They weren’t too smart, so they were able to keep their numbers at a minimum.

Him, Mermista, and Scorpia had drifted from their position, slowly advancing on the tower, towards the door the bots kept coming out of. 

He searched for the other group, which was hard thanks to the mountainous terrain blocking the way. Entrapta was at a high point by the tower, fiddling with her pad. Luckily a bot hadn’t gotten to her. He also saw flashes of blue and green above the rocks, and assumed that was where Perfuma and Frosta were. 

But where was Kyle? How far did he drift from the princesses?

After scanning the landscape for longer, he found Kyle on the peak of what looked like a small mountain. One side of it was an incline that went down to ground level, but the other side ended in a cliff. Rogelio guessed it was a 15 foot drop. From that vantage point it would be extremely easy for Kyle to shoot at bots from the cliff with little danger to himself.

Something was off however. The little speck in the distance that was Kyle wasn’t shooting down from the cliff, he was shooting sporadically towards the incline. He looked like he was sitting down and backing up towards the cliff.

Concern sprouted in Rogelio’s chest. The obstacles in the way were obscuring the rest of the scene, so he couldn’t see what Kyle was shooting at. Rogelio took a few steps closer and started drifting a bit to the right, trying to get a clear line of sight. 

Rogelio could start to see more bot corpses on the mound, a little closer to Kyle than what should be normal. The incline also had burn marks on the dirt. 

Rogelio started walking faster, his heart racing a little faster. He almost bumped into a waist high ridge, and decided to climb up it. He stood all the way up, finally getting a good view of the base of the mountain...

There were bots. A lot of bots. 20 or so were advancing up the incline. They weren’t shooting, but they were maneuvering through the broken bots on the floor.

It was now clear what was going on: Kyle was backing away because he was running out of room, the sporadic shots were because of his fear. 

Kyle was in danger. 

His body felt jittery and heavy all at once, and his heart started spewing adrenaline all throughout his system. Rogelio sprinted down the ridge and through the rocky terrain, determined to get to Kyle. He estimated the trip would take one or two minutes.

In the distance, Rogelio could see the bots getting closer and closer to Kyle. He managed to shoot a few, but more kept coming.

_ Where are the princesses? _ thought Rogelio angrily as he continued running. He was confused as to why Perfuma and Frosta weren’t with Kyle. Weren’t these people all about teamwork? Why did they leave one of their teammates behind? Or was Kyle not good enough to be their teammate?

There was a tall ridge in the way of Rogelio’s path. Instead of going around, he pushed himself up it. He sprinted across the top and jumped back down when reaching the end, landing with a heavy thump. His heart was straining with all the rapid activity, but he didn't stop.

Why couldn’t Rogelio be there with Kyle? Why were they fighting with people they were unfamiliar with? Why were they on two different battlefields?

Rogelio jumped down into a valley pointed straight for Kyle, and continued running between two rock walls. The walls echoed Rogelio’s footsteps back to him; and he heard his own breathing becoming heavier. His legs and chest ached from running at top speed for so long, but he persisted.

_ Why _ did Entrapta give Kyle that gun?  _ Why _ did she even want him to go on this mission? Why didn't the three of them just go to sleep before anyone talked to them? It felt like the world was conspiring against them; their escape from the Horde didn’t stop the universe from wanting them dead.

Rogelio was about halfway there. Just 30 more seconds and he could be there to help Kyle. He ran past the little valley he was in and was glad to see that there was flat terrain between him and Kyle.

Finally close enough to see, Rogelio saw Kyle’s face was that of worry. Not outright terror yet, but he was definitely scared. 

A bot was advancing past the others on the ground. Kyle kept shooting at it, but he wasn’t a very good shot. The bot stepped over the last broken bot to Kyle…

And it raised its gun directly at him. He tried to scoot back, but his hand reached the edge of the cliff. 

He was out of time.

Time seemed to slow down. Rogelio’s legs lazily flew through the air, barely covering any distance with each step. Rogelio was too slow. He was stuck watching the tragic scene before him.

Rogelio blinked down hard to cover his wet eyes. He suddenly felt fearful and guilty. _THIS IS ALL MY FAULT_ , he thought furiously.

It was  _ his _ decision to go with the princesses after their escape from the Horde. It was  _ his  _ lack of speech and confidence that got him and Kyle separated. 

Kyle looked away from the bot and to his right, away from Rogelio, probably to cower. The bot shot its laser. Kyle managed to avoid it… but he was no longer on the mountain. He was falling backwards. Right off the cliff.

Emotion flooded from Rogelio’s chest, into his lungs, and up his throat. When he opened his mouth he let out a weighty cry. as he outstretched his arms towards Kyle. But he wasn't going to make it.

He watched Kyle float through the air. His hair was moving rapidly in the wind.

Suddenly, a green flash came from behind the mountain. Perfuma rode in on a wave of plants behind Kyle. He only fell a foot or two before he was caught messily by Perfuma. 

Rogelio stopped roaring and slowed, but did not stop running, not daring to hope the scene in front of him was real.

Before the bots could go follow Kyle over the cliff, Frosta shot up from the side of the mountain and blasted the bots with a swarm of icicles. Some missed, but there were so many projectiles that all the bots were hit and down for the count. 

Rogelio watched as Kyle was taken care of by Perfuma. Rogelio finally stopped running and put his hands on his knees, panting. The sudden relief Rogelio felt made him mentally exhausted, and he started to chuckle at himself.

Kyle was safe. He was caught by Perfuma.  _ He was safe _ .

He took back everything bad he said about the princesses. They can keep him safe. 

But Rogelio’s moment of rest was cut short. The sound of a bot charging its gun made him turn around. There was one with it’s gun pointed at him, taking advantage of his distraction.

Just as quickly as he spotted the bot however, a wave of dirty water crashed into it. The wave passed, leaving a faint smell of sewer, and Rogelio spotted Mermista and Scorpia running towards him.

They caught up to him, and Mermista started panting. “DUDE!” she said, “don’t split up from the group! That was dangerous!”

Rogelio looked at Mermista. He felt bad for piling onto the stress she already had to deal with. He nodded guilty.

Mermista crossed her arms and sighed at him. Scorpia saw the almost-tears in his eyes and asked, “hey are you ok?”

Rogelio nodded again. He pointed vaguely at where Kyle, Perfuma and Frosta were and let out some grunts and growls. He knew they wouldn’t understand him, but he just couldn’t bottle everything up at that moment. 

“Oh, looks like Entrapta is done,” said Mermista, incorrectly following Rogelio’s finger. Rogelio sighed at the miscommunication but he rolled with it. “Let's go meet up with the others.”

Mermista and Scorpia ran toward the other group - luckily not at full speed - and Rogelio followed them at a light jog.

The sight of Kyle being safe on a mound of plants made Rogelio’s heart flutter, and he ran a little faster.

###

The night air at camp was nice and crisp, but there was still silence between the two people sitting by the fire. Bow had left and come back to add more fuel to the fire, but other than that there had not been any interaction between him and Lonnie.

Lonnie had been replaying the events of that day in her head, and she realized something. Even though she was part of the rebellion (sort of), she had no idea what they were going to do next. They were talking about Mara’s Ship, busy she didn’t know who or what that was.

“Hey Bow?” asked Lonnie cautiously, “What are you guys going to do next, and what’s Mara’s Ship?”

Bow looked up from the fire. He still had his elbows on his knees; he was in pensive thought beforehand. “Mara’s ship is a First One’s space ship that belonged to an old She-Ra: Mara. We’re going to save Glimmer, who was abducted by Horde Prime along with Hordak.”

“Which one is Glimmer?”

“She has short purple hair? Uses light powers and can teleport?”

“Oh right, the new queen.”

Bow flinched at that. “Yeah.” He looked back at the fire.

_ Of course _ the rebellion is risking everything to try and save one person. That's just how they operated (except with Entrapta, mused Lonnie).

“So you guys are seriously about to go into the void of space to face Horde Prime?” said Lonnie, with a little sass in her voice.

But a confident smile formed on Bow’s face. “Of course we are! We’re friends! With the power of friendship anything is possible!” Bow’s voice changed into a more heroic one, and he stood up and put one leg on the log and his hands on his hips. “I know that my friends have my back! With the power of friendship, we can take anything we can throw at us, and together we can fight Horde Prime! TOGETHER WE-”

“Ok stop stop stop,” said Lonnie, exasperated. “Goodness you don't need to have a whole speech about how perfect your friendship is.”

Lonnie sighed and stole a peak at Adora’s tent before staring at theh ground. Bow looked at her meekly and sat down.

“Well, my friendship isn’t so great right now either,” said Bow before staring back at the fire.

Lonnie looked at him curiously.

He continued, “Me and Glimmer had a disagreement about how we should go about protecting territory. She wanted to use this concentrated magic in the center of the planet to do it, but me and Adora thought it was too dangerous. We thought it could destroy everything if it was unleashed.”

The sound of fire crackling filled the air as Bow finished talking. “Well you gotta finish the story now,” said Lonnie.

Bow sighed. “Well, she pulled rank on us,  _ her friends _ , when we were trying to talk about it, and told us we weren’t allowed to leave. She went off by herself to activate the magic in the center, the Heart of Etheria. Adora had to break the sword in order to save the planet, but not before we were pulled into a different dimension.”

Bow gestures vaguely up. “Hence the stars, and hence the alien invasion.”

Lonnie sat back and took it all in. The rebellion had been busy these past couple of weeks. To think there was so much going on that Lonnie didn’t know about.

Curiosity was getting to Lonnie, and she wanted Bow to keep talking, but when she looked over he was lost in his own world.

“So what are you going to do?,” she asked. “About your friend?”

“Well she’s in trouble right now, so we’re going to go get her first. But after that I don't really know.” Bow fidgeted with his hands a little. “I don't really understand why she did what she did, so I guess I’ll try to understand why?”

“But aren’t you angry at her?”

“Well I don’t  _ want _ to be. Friendship takes work.”

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, Lonnie looked away. 

But there was something else nagging at her. “So why did Adora do it? Why did she sacrifice being her sword and She-Ra?”

Bow got that smile on his face again; he was going to preach again. “She did it to protect innocent lives! Think of all the innocent people that could have been killed if the First One’s weapon was unleashed!”

Lonnie genuinely didn’t get it. Why would you sacrifice your friendship and your power for some people you barely met? Why did she do it?

She was about to say something about it, or maybe insult Adora again (Lonnie wasn’t sure), when something on Bow’s back started beeping.

“Sorry,” he stammered, as he reached behind his back to pull out a pad, not unlike Entrapta’s. He tapped the screen to answer a call.

Lonnie scooted in closer, and she saw Mermista’s face light up the screen. “BOW,” she shouted, “We went on a trip with Entrapta to find Glimmer so we’re at Horde Prime’s tower and Entrapta said she intercepted a message-”

“Wait wait wait,” said Lonnie suddenly, looking over Bow’s shoulder now. “Are Kyle and Rogelio ok?” Bow looked at her in confusion since he didn't know her friends went with them.

A confirmation from Kyle and a gentle growl from Rogelio could be heard in the background behind Mermista. 

“Yes they’re fine!” shouted Mermista. “Guys listen, we found Glimmer, but we also found out that Prime is bringing reinforcements. Today. Get Adora and get on the ship, now!”

Bow and Lonnie looked at each other in shock. Bow quickly ran to Adora’s tent shouting her name.

###

Lonnie followed Bow and Adora to the ship. They were accompanied by the magic user -  _ King _ Mica - and a horse with wings. Lonnie didn’t question it, she was just focused on getting to the ship to see Kyle and Rogelio. After a few minutes, they made it to the clearing where she spotted the other group.

Meanwhile, Kyle and Rogelio were being led to the ship by Mermista. They all seemed exhausted, but Kyle and Rogelio looked way more comfortable with the princesses than when they left.

In front of the ship, both groups stopped in front of each other, ready to say goodbye. Adora walked up and talked to Mermista and the others, but she seemed to put her back to Kyle and Rogelio. 

Lonnie sighed behind her. She made eye contact with Kyle and Rogelio and tilted her head to the side. The three of them took a few steps away from the main group to talk amongst themselves.

“Hey guys,” chuckled Lonnie. “Glad to see you guys made it in one piece.” Looking at the two up and down, they both seemed dirty and tired, and Rogelio was carrying the gun for Kyle.

But as soon as Lonnie noticed Rogelio carrying it, he put it on the ground. He suddenly leaned down and pulled Lonnie into a tight hug.

“Woah!” she grunted. “You ok Rogelio?” She gave Kyle a questioning look, but he just shrugged caringly.

She hugged Rogelio back tightly, and he  _ purred _ . She had never seen Rogelio like this before. He took a sigh of relief, let go, and picked up the gun again.

“He was like this the whole way back.” said Kyle, and Rogelio scowled at him.

“What is going on? Are you guys ok?” asked Lonnie, a little concerned. 

“Yeah, it went swimmingly!” said Kyle. “I don't know what the big deal is, I was great with that gun!” He pointed at the gun, and Rogelio held it away from him while growling. Kyle didn’t seem to notice.

“Uh huh,” said Lonnie, smiling with one eyebrow raised. “Is that why Rogelio took it away from you?”

“No he’s uhh. He’s holding it for me.” Rogelio furrowed his eyes, and there was a big (murderous) smile on his face.

Lonnie rolled her eyes, but she was happy they were in a good mood.

“Ok ok,” chuckled Lonnie, “but seriously how did it go.”

Rogelio let out air through his nose. All while keeping a somewhat neutral face, he looked at the princesses he were with, and then gave Lonnie a thumbs up. 

“It was great!” said Kyle. “The princesses were all super nice, and it wasn’t like the Horde where they expected us to do all the work. I think you were wrong before Lonnie; they care enough about us to not kill us at least.”

“Wh- really?”

“Yeah, they helped me out more than once.” Lonnie looked at Rogelio, and he nodded as well.

Lonnie glanced to the left to look at Bow. He was talking to the other princesses, probably about the mission as well. The talk with him earlier made Lonnie inclined to agree. Maybe they weren’t so bad after all. Well, except-

“I’m still angry at Adora though,” said Lonnie.

Rogelio raised an eyebrow at Lonnie. Adora hadn’t been nice to them all day, but the two didn’t know about the argument. Before Lonnie could explain, Kyle jumped in.

“Well she’s walking over right now.”

Lonnie turned, and low and behold, there was Adora. Her hands were in front of her, and her face looked sad and apologetic.

“I have something to say to you guys,” said Adora, not looking at them in the eyes. The three looked at her, and Lonnie crossed her arms, waiting for her to continue.

“I- I’m sorry. I haven’t been the nicest person to you guys today, but I’m really happy I could see you guys again.”

Behind Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio looked from her to Adora. The apology felt a little short to them, but they let Lonnie do the talking.

And oh did Lonnie talk alright. She stared at her for an extra second with an unimpressed look on her face. “Is that it, was that seriously it.” Adora flinched. “After all the crap you pulled, all we get is a few sentences of nothing without even an explanation?”

Adora turned a bit more defensive. “I apologized for today, what more do you want?”

“This isn’t only about today, Adora!”

Suddenly, they were interrupted. “It’s Prime!” shouted Mica. Everyone turned to look above the treeline, and sure enough there were drones scanning the forest for them. They were a little too close for comfort. Everyone except for Adora, Bow, and Entrapta were starting to group up to come up with a plan.

Adora swiftly turned to run up the ramp to the ship, leaving Lonnie standing there. She passed Bow, who gave her a look.  _ OK that's it, _ thought Lonnie.  _ I can’t take this anymore. _

Lonnie walked away from the group and towards the ramp of the ship; Bow and Adora were already at the entrance. She looked up at them and shouted, “Adora wait.” 

Adora turned, her face unimpressed. Maybe sad? Whatever, she didn't have time to think about that. Lonnie looked at Bow, and he gave her a small smile and a thumbs up.

_ Now or never _ , she thought.

“Look,” started Lonnie. “I also need to say something to you. I honestly don’t get why you left the Horde, or why you started attacking us. You left the only family you ever had, and joined a group of people you never even knew. People who you were told were the enemies for your entire life! You left us like that.” Lonnie snapped her fingers. “And you joined them to save some bystanders you’ve never known?”

Rogelio and Kyle, who had walked up behind Lonnie, glanced at each other. Adora started, “But I had to leave-” 

Lonnie cut her off, “Ok yeah fine I get that. The horde was crap to live in.” Lonnie stopped. She clenched her fist and yelled, “but you attacked us like it was nothing! Like we were common pests. Everyone else has an excuse; they didn’t know us. But YOU grew up with us. YOU knew how the Horde manipulated us, how they brainwashed us as kids to think they were good people. But you still looked at us in the face, your FRIENDS, and decided to villainize us.” 

She stopped and sighed. “And the first thing you did when we changed sides, when we tried to  _ change our ways _ , was villainize us some more.”

Lonnie finished, and stared at the ground. Adora was shocked, and looked at Rogelio and Kyle, silently asking them if they felt the same way. But they were also looking at the dirt, refusing to look at Adora in the eyes. 

“O- oh,” murmured Adora. Her face turned guilty. “Guys, I didn’t know that’s how you felt. I- I’m…” She paused. “I had a good reason for leaving!”

Lonnie sighed. Lonnie meant every single thing she said: Adora had treated them like trash, only focusing on redeeming Catra or Scorpia, but never them. It's like they were cut out.

...But something about seeing Adora again made her anger hesitate. She still remembered the good times they had together,  _ all five  _ of them. Adora was one of the people who made living in the Horde manageable. Lonnie wouldn’t forget how Adora acted after she became She-Ra, but she couldn’t forget about the good stuff, either...

Lonnie squeezed her crossed arms tighter. “Fine. Go. Go and save your friend Glimmer,” she explained. “But there is no way I'm forgiving you just because you had ‘a good reason for leaving.’ When you get back, you’re gonna explain everything that has happened to you, and you’re gonna explain your reason for leaving. And after that… we’ll talk.”

Adora let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you for the chance, Lonnie.”

Lonnie blushed, keeping her hands crossed. “W- whatever. I haven’t forgiven you yet.”

“Just don't wake anyone up in the middle of the night,” said Bow. “You should  _ talk _ , not yell.”

Lonnie half smiled at Bow. Suddenly, Mica waved Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio over to join in on the plan. Lonnie nodded at Adora, Bow, and Entrapta, and left to join the group. Behind her back, Kyle and Rogelio waved more affably at them, and followed Lonnie.

The three reconvened with everyone else, and they caught the three up on the plan. 

###

Everyone came up with a plan while Adora, Bow, and Entrapta set up the ship. They realized brute force wouldn’t stop Prime from reaching them, but capturing She-Ra might slow them down.

With that in mind, they created a plan and set it in motion.

Mica waved his hands in the air to cast a spell. With a flash of light, an illusion of She-Ra formed over him. The resemblance was uncanny, everyone was impressed. He mounted the horse with wings - who apparently  _ could talk  _ \- and followed the princesses into battle.

The horde trio trailed behind them, and when the fight broke out in a small open field, they walked towards the sidelines. They used the cover of the trees to get themselves in a good flanking position.

Once in position, they huddled up in the bushes and waited. Ice and plants covered the battlefield as red lighting and water could occasionally be seen above the wave of bots.

“Uh, Lonnie?” Rogelio and Lonnie turned around. Kyle had equipped the gun, and was crouching like they were.

“Can this wait, Kyle?” replied Lonnie. “We’re kinda about to join a fight?”

Whatever Kyle was about to say got cut off by the sound of flames. All three looked over to see Mica shooting fire out of his hands, which knocked away all the bots close to him. His face was back to normal, but he was still wearing the dress. 

That was their signal to attack. Rogelio stood up and roared, attracting some of the bots’ attention, about 5 of them. He crashed forward through the bushes towards the bots, his arms stretched out menacingly beside him. The bots put their appendages in front of themselves, bracing for impact.

Lonnie followed after him. With expert timing, Rogelio stopped in his tracks and bent down at the same time as Lonnie reached him. She stepped on Rogelio’s exposed back and leaped into the air, taser in hand. 

She landed directly on top of a bot, catching it by surprise, and stabbed the taser through the bot’s eye. The bot went limp, and started tilting backwards towards the ground. Lonnie somersaulted off and landed behind the row of bots. They were all looking at her; she had their attention.

Which gave Rogelio the perfect opening. He took his left hand and slammed it at two of the bots at the end of the row, sending them flying towards the right. He focused on them to finish them off.

Two left. The bot closest to Lonnie turned towards her, and the other one trained its gun on her. She took a few steps back.

But suddenly a warning shot made the farthest bot look away. Kyle was standing a ways in front of the bushes, with his gun trained on the bot. She was glad he had her back.

The bot closest to Lonnie swiped at her with its arm, but she dodged to the right. The bot stumbled a bit, giving her an opening. She was about to go for the killing blow, when one of Kyle’s rouge shots flew by her head and forced her to pause.

She looked over to see Kyle missing all his shots at the bot, which was advancing on him. “Kyle!” she yelled. But the bot she was facing suddenly raised its arm, and when it went down, she blocked it with the taser handle like a sword.

“Kyle get closer if you can't hit it!” shouted Lonnie. Kyle’s brain told him she was right, but it took a lot of his concentration to keep the heavy gun upright. He stepped closer anyway, but his hand was starting to shake and slowly went down.

Lonnie threw the bot’s hand up and smacked it in the head with a flat side of the laser. She looked over again to see Kyle aiming at the ground, with a bot advancing on him. “Kyle!” she shouted desperately.

Finishing off the previous two bots, Rogelio turned around at the commotion and saw Kyle’s predicament. He roared at Kyle at the same time he ran towards him to help. Kyle got the message and put the gun down and stopped firing, giving Rogelio a clean opening.

Rogelio arrived and grabbed the bot’s shoulder with his left hand, and the bot’s head with his right. The metal started creaking and bending under the force of his claws, and he let out a low growl. With a burst of bolts and wires, the head ripped clean off its body. Rogelio stood there for a moment looking at its head, and casually discarded it.

The sound of more guns charging made Kyle and Rogelio look away from Lonnie. Three new bots sat at a distance, their guns pointed at them. Rogelio looked at Kyle with his gun dragging on the ground; from experience, he knew Kyle probably couldn’t hit them. Rogelio then looked at the bot body currently in his hand. He threw the body like it was nothing, and it hit the three bots sideways, knocking them all down to the ground.

Lonnie’s bot fell to the ground too. They all stared at each other, welcoming the moment of reprieve. 

“Kyle,” said Lonnie. “What were you doin-”

“Lonnie you take the gun!” shouted Kyle suddenly. She looked stunned. 

She turned to Rogelio and said, “hey cover us will you?”

Rogelio nodded and turned to fight more bots.

With Rogelio covering them, Lonnie continued, “You sure?”

“Yes!” exclaimed Kyle. He took his arm out of the gun and let it drop on the ground. He fully stood up, meeting Lonnie in the eyes. “It’s way too heavy.”

It was worth a shot. She leaned down and equipped the gun on her right hand, careful not to squeeze the trigger. She stood up with a groan; it was hefty, but it felt powerful. She aimed at a far away bot, one whose gun was set on Rogelio.

Lonnie took a deep breath and fired, but missed the bot. “This thing is hard to aim.” she complained.

“Oh absolutely,” agreed Kyle.

She took another breath and tried again. She adjusted her aim, waited for her heart to settle, and fired. The bullet flew through the air and hit its mark! The bot fell down, and Rogelio comically turned around to see what the noise was. 

“Woah nice!” exclaimed Kyle. 

“This thing packs a punch.” Lonnie looked at the weapon on her arm up and down, and smiled. “Alright, let's make a trade.” Lonnie reached into her waist with her other hand, and presented the taser to Kyle. He took it with little hesitation, grateful for a weapon.

Rogelio suddenly growled at Kyle, and they both looked at him. His hand pointed quickly from Kyle to the princesses, wanting Kyle to be with people who could protect him better than they could, now that he didn't have a long distance weapon.

“Oh alright,” said Kyle, and he walked around the battle to the princesses.

The battle did not take long after that. Rogelio took credit for most of the bots destroyed, since Lonnie was still getting used to moving with the gun. She still found herself in the middle of the action though, and found herself still wanting to punch and kick. She got a few shots in with the gun though, and she liked the impact it had.

With the princesses, Kyle was kept safe. He had a few close calls, and managed to stun a few bots for others to come in with the kill. Mostly, however, he didn’t do much, but he was mesmerized by the way Mica casted magic.

The battle stopped when Mara’s ship lifted off into the night sky. Cheering erupted from the rebels, and Prime’s bots retreated, knowing they failed their objective to capture She-Ra. 

Everyone met together to the side of the battlefield. They were all jumpy and energetic from the adrenaline, and that translated into loose cheering and celebrating. 

Kyle ran up to Rogelio and Lonnie, and practically jumped up and down. “You guys were amazing!!”

Rogelio heroically struck a pose with his hands on his hips. “Yeah I know!” she said, ignoring Rogelio. She held the gun up, “this thing really packs a punch!”

“Yeah! You were great with it!”

Feeling sporadic, Kyle suddenly jumped towards Rogelio to give him a hug. Rogelio looked surprised, but quickly got over it. He spun Kyle around a few times and hoisted him up in the air and let him land on his left shoulder, sitting upright. Kyle almost lost his balance, but Rogelio held him there with one hand. 

They both at each other and then at Lonnie, scheming. She gave them a confused look, but before she could get wise, Rogelio grabbed her. She struggled in his arms and protest, but to no avail. With some effort, Rogelio got her on his other shoulder opposite to Kyle. The three looked at eachother and snickered.

“You three are great in battle,” said King Mica, causally walking up to them and ignoring their antics. 

“We kicked some robo BUTT!” shouted Frosta, jumping in front of them.

“Yeah, you guys did good,” said Mermista as she walked towards them. “Guess I’ll have to think twice about splitting you guys up again.” They all smiled.

“Alright guys!” yelled Mica, addressing the group. All eyes were on him. “That was a good battle, and Adora, Bow and Entrapta made it off planet to go save the Queen. We all had a long day and we all deserve some rest. Get some sleep!”

Everyone murmured in agreement. Rogelio put the two down. Lonnie landed gracefully on his feet while Kyle almost landed on his face. They all started walking back to camp talking amongst themselves.

Everyone except Kyle. He picked himself back up but still lingered behind, feeling indecisive. Rogelio and Lonnie looked at him curiously.

###

Everyone was long gone from the battlefield, everyone except Rogelio and Lonnie. They were sitting there, hidden behind a tree, eavesdropping on Kyle’s conversation with Mica. They blamed Kyle for still being out there.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” they heard Mica ask. “It's extremely difficult.”

“Yes!” said Kyle. “I’ve never felt good with any weapon, Horde or otherwise.”

“But you want to learn magic? At a time like this?”

“Yes!”

“Why?”

“I want to make cool explosions and big flashes of stuff.”

Rogelio could feel Mica’s unimpressed face in the silence.

“Well, also...” continued Kyle, “I actually want to be at least a little useful. And magic has always seemed so versatile, a- and…” There was a pause in the conversation, but Rogelio and Lonnie couldn’t see the wave motions Kyle was making with his hands. “Fluid?”

There was a long silence, and Rogelio and Lonnie looked at eachother. “Alright,” they heard Mica say, “I’ll teach you magic.”

They heard Kyle exclaim happily and jump up in the air.

“But tomorrow,” said Mica. “It’s the middle of the night and we need sleep.”

“Ok”

With that, Mica walked off towards camp, waving and smiling at Rogelio and Lonnie. Kyle walked past them, and froze. He was surprised to find them eavesdropping.

…

They walked to camp, Lonnie and Rogelio congratulating Kyle on deciding to learn magic. The three wouldn’t start to acknowledge it until later, but they were starting to think of this place as more than a temporary safe house. They were starting to think of it as a new home, and these people as new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The writers kinda didn't treat these three very well, but luckily I'm here to exploit that for angst! Like seriously tho imagine everything from their point of view. They don't know squat about whats going on. Lonnie wasn't originally going to have this big of a role but like she was obviously going to be angry at Adora, and the more I wrote the more I realized Lonnie was right. But let me hear what you guys think about that!  
> I almost didn't include the hug between Rogelio and Kyle, mainly because it felt kinda out of place? But yknow what it was Pure and I may want to draw it so there.
> 
> Ok so more about the important stuff:  
> \- Like I said, chapter 6 will be the last chapter in this part. It will be short but I don't know how long it will take me (I'm busy irl currently). Definitely might be posted before Halloween.  
> \- Also, when I post the new chapter, I will also further edit the first two chapters! I didn't edit them very well, and I think they sound choppy and very much like a first draft. I want to put my best foot forward so people will actually read my fic yknow?  
> \- And finally, I'm setting a personal deadline to have part two extremely planned out (mainly the first draft of every chapter) done by the new year. I predict part two will have 6 chapters as well.
> 
> Anyway thank you for reading! This chapter was very wild to write, hope it wasn't too crazy.


	6. Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god my updates take so long

The warm light of the setting sun shone unobstructed through the clear sky, which, along with the forest and the ground below, was turning a calming golden color. Etheria was bidding the day farewell. Rogelio sighed in relaxation of being in the glow of the sun. Back in the Horde, he would have to use the heat of machines and smog to regulate the heat of his body and warm himself up. But this? This sunlight? This was something completely different. It's like the warmth of the sun was calling out to him, seeping through his scales and warming his very bones. He was made for this, he concluded.

He sat back casually with his chest puffed out, trying to increase the surface area of his body as much as he could. Today has been a great day. After saying goodbye to Adora, battling the bots in the forest, and collapsing in the tent, this morning had been a relaxing change of pace. At first, him, Lonnie, and Kyle had gone to see Mermista, assuming there was work to be done, and expectations to be met. But Mica and everybody else had agreed to let them rest for the day. Mermista claimed it was too early in the day to be dealing with anything, and Mica said that the three of them had been through a lot the past few days, and gave them the day off.

So they ate breakfast, a  _ real _ breakfast. And a real lunch. And a real dinner. Devoid of any disgusting food bars. Shadow Weaver had tried to talk to them, but everyone in camp helped the three avoid her. They even got time to train. It was mostly amongst themselves, the equipment wasn’t as good as in the Fright Zone, and Mica collected Kyle in the middle to work some magic, but Rogelio felt like the session with him and Lonnie still went well.

Now, he was sitting on a cliffside with Kyle and Lonnie, near the place they had seen the projection of Prime yesterday, overlooking the forest and river below. The mountain they were on led to the left, through a treeless, rocky expanse. Prime's tower jutted out jarringly in the rocky terrain, but the unsightly tower didn’t bother Rogleio as it did last night: it was a lot smaller and less ominous after the victory last night. Besides, there was sunlight to be enjoyed.

Rogelio laid all the way down, eyes closed, to bask in the sunlight. He heard Lonnie chuckle to his left. "You enjoying this big guy?" she asked. Rogelio growled loudly and happily, and splayed his arms out above him and swayed his tail lazily over the edge of the cliff. Lonnie said, "better than the heat in the Horde, huh?" Rogelio nodded.

“How was training today?” asked Kyle. The lizard slogged out of his trance, then sat up on his hands to look at Kyle, then at Lonnie.

"It was good," she said. "I easily beat Rogelio in hand-to-hand, 4 to 2! He may be stronger but he's just way too slow!" Rogelio bumped Lonnie on the shoulder, a burrowed brow and a toothy smile playing on his face. “You gonna do anything about it?” said Lonnie, and Rogelio just rolled his eyes. 

After a few moments of silence, Rogelio gestured beside Lonnie, pointing at the repurposed bot blaster that was now her’s. She looked at it, and back at Rogelio. Eyebrows raised, he brought his hand in front of him, palm up, asking a question.

Lonnie started averting eye contact. "The gun? It was... ok. You saw me, I was a pretty good shot." It's true, Rogelio did think Lonnie had very good aim, he saw her practice with it a lot.

“I thought it was extremely annoying to use,” chimed in Kyle. “It’s way too heavy and you get rooted in one place.”

“Yeah I know,” agreed Lonnie. “I think I’m going to make a holster for it or something, so I can fight up close without worrying about it, then whip it out when I need to finish someone or when they’re too far away. I’ll just deal with the weight I guess.”

Rogelio gave a hum of thought. It was a good idea, but she’d have to develop a blend of both had-to-hand combat with sharpshooting. He thought Lonnie could do it, though.

Before the conversation could fall into a lull, Rogelio turned away from Lonnie and nudged at Kyle. He turned, and Rogelio moved his hand with his eyebrows raised in the same questioning gesture. 

Kyle grew confused. “What the gun?” 

Rogelio shook his head, and pointed at Kyle and made a walking motion.

Following his train of thought, Lonnie asked, “Well where did Mica take you while we were training? Did you do any magic?”

“No, not really,” began Kyle. “Mica took us inside one of the tents to start, but honestly he wasn’t a very good teacher. Everything he said was confusing and he told me to try making a circle right off the bat. He managed to get his sister, who is also a sorcerer, in the tent to teach me as well.”

“He isn’t a good teacher?,” said Lonnie, “Isn’t he like the best sorcerer?”

Kyle smiled, and said, “His sister, Castaspella, said Mica was gifted and rushed through the basics. She’s the one who actually knew how to teach.”

They both nodded thoughtfully. A pause, then, “so you  _ weren’t  _ able to do magic?”

Kyle sighed and shook his head. He shut his eyes in concentration, and to demonstrate, he raised his hands out in front of him, right hand above the left. After a few seconds, he moved his hand in a circular motion. As his tense hands moved through the path, however, nothing happened. At the end, his right hand ended up at the bottom and his left at the top.

He peaked an eye open in anticipation to see the empty air in front of him. He put his hands down and sighed. “Castaspella said sorcery is taking magic in the air and having it ‘flow through one’s body,’” he explained, with slight sarcasm, “but I don't know what I’m doing!”

Rogelio chuckled a little at his companion’s frustration. He didn’t imagine being a magician would be short work, so he hoped Kyle would stay patient. Rogelio bumped Kyle in the shoulder and gave him a smile. Kyle's frustration seemed to lessen in his face, but only slightly.

Rogelio looked back at the setting sun. Half of it was already hidden by trees, and the sky was losing its golden glow. He was running out of time to enjoy the sunlight. Rogelio laid back down on the grass, put his hands on his chest, and closed his eyes with a happy sigh.

###

The disappointment that bloomed in Kyle’s chest jerked in surprise when Rogelio bumped his shoulder. It was clear in Rogelio’s face that he was trying to tell Kyle it was ok that he couldn’t do magic, that he didn’t think of Kyle as a burden, but he knew better. Rogelio calmly layed down despite Kyle’s swirling thoughts.

Kyle looked at Rogelio, laying down against the setting sun, and found himself unable to look away. With his eyes closed peacefully and hands together on his chest, he looked almost serene. The light bounced off his chin flatteringly, outlining his long snout, and his nostrils evenly opened and closed in time with his stomach rising and falling.

The aura of peace radiating off Rogelio was something Kyle hadn’t seen often on him. In the Fright Zone, Rogelio had always stolen heat from the warm pipes and vents in musty closets. When Rogelio wasn't always able to find any warmth, he would end up being tired and stressed as a result. Seeing him naturally take in sunlight made it clear that he preferred this than what he had to do in the Horde; channeling the heat of the sun came naturally to him. Leaving the Horde was worth seeing Rogelio so calm.

Studying Rogelio and seeing him take in sunlight actually gave Kyle the beginnings of an idea. He laid down, next to Rogelio, and closed his eyes. Kyle tried to take in everything: the feeling of grass pressing on his back, and the slight warmth he felt from the setting sun, and the sound of Rogelio’s breathing. Calming down and emptying his mind made Kyle fill with a sense of awareness. His mind was blank, and he could feel something within himself, something that was within everything else, something that he was just now noticing.

Kyle gingerly lifted his hands towards the sky, and tugged at the connection he knew was there. Slowly, carefully, he started tracing the path of a circle. As his hands moved, he felt a tingling in his arms and heard a sound by his hands. The energy faltered at his surprise, but Kyle kept his eyes shut and focused on the feelings around him as he continued. His hands crossed over themselves, like Castaspella taught him, and his forearms touched. The sound and tingling abruptly stopped, and he felt an energy in front of him.

He suddenly heard a simple "woah" from his left.

Kyle's eyes opened and faced the noise. Rogelio was sitting on his arms, staring at Kyle, and Lonnie was looking at the space just above him. They both wore looks of awe on their face. Kyle looked up, and saw a blue, circular symbol, with different lines and shapes all focused on a central diamond in the middle of it.

Kyle kicked himself backwards and let out a small yelp. As quickly as he saw it, the blue symbol hanging in the air evaporated into thin air. He stared at the space where it used to be. IN the next few seconds, everyone sat in silence, filtered their shock.

Suddenly, Rogelio lunged at Kyle, squeezing his body in a tight hug. Lonnie laughed happily behind them. Kyle stood there motionless, letting himself be embarrassed by Rogelio. His voice in shock, he said, “I did it.”

Kyle’s eyes lit up. “I- I did it! That was magic!” He laughed triumphantly.

“Well…” began Lonnie, making Kyle stop. “A simple little circle won’t stop any bot anytime soon.” Kyle just gave a meek chuckle. He didn’t really know how to even cast a spell, so that was probably his next step.

“I’ll work on it,” he said confidently.

Silence fell over them once more, and Kyle realized it was getting a lot darker. The sun was barely peeking over the trees now, and the sky was being overtaken by dark blue. The night air grew cold, and Rogelio squeezed Kyle tighter. For Rogelio, Kyle learned long ago, the temperature wasn’t about being comfortable or not, it was a resource. When the lizard grew cold, he would start getting drowsy and fall asleep.

Lonnie also noticed Rogelio’s attempt to steal Kyle’s body heat, and got up and said, “I think its time to go. It was a long day.” Rogelio yawned, then Kyle looked at him and decided to help him up. Rogelio walked to the tent while sleepily having his hands over Kyle’s shoulder and his head resting and nuzzling against Kyle’s. The three walked back to their tent, ready to bring the day to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thats that! This chapter was originally going to have like a cliffhanger but honestly if i abandon this series now would be the time to do it.... so i feel like a cliffhanger would be mean lmao.

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said before, and like you can probably tell, this is a three part ordeal. But.... listen guys. I feel like I'm not working on this as often as I should, and as a result the idea of working on this just festers in the back of my mind while I'm doing other stuff. If you're interested, I suggests subscribing to the series so you know when part two begins (which would be around the new year), but if I were to abandon this series, it would be now (if i post part two i definitely wont abandon part three though, since part 2 ends with a huge cliffhangar)
> 
> If this ends up being abandoned it would really be a shame though, I spent a lot of time and research with aspects of the next two parts, and I've learned a lot about writing and planning since chapter 1 of this fic so part 2 would be a lot better for it. We'll see.
> 
> Comments are always appreciated! Got a new artsy[Tumblr](https://an-arc-of-light.tumblr.com/)


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